We are sans cable chez Koenig, so I can barely carry on a polite conversation these days, but a while back I heard Terry Gross
interview Timothy Olyphant about his role in 'Justified,' and was
sufficiently intrigued to track down the first season on DVD, courtesy
of the Austin Public Library.
It was really good, so I put in a request for the second season, which was, naturally, checked out. It came in a couple of days ago, and, as is usual when visiting the liberry, I had a look-see at the new books, and picked up a couple by a Well Known (male) Author. Sadly, upon attempting to read them, I was greeted by pointless references to the (male) protagonists' genitalia, early in both tomes. Of course, I put them down immediately and stuck Season Two in the DVD player.
I was struck by the contrast between Elmore Leonard's characters and the characters in the two books I'd just rejected. I'm a qualified fan of Leonard's; I don't love everything he's ever written, but the stuff I do love, I love a lot. He has this ability to disappear that I really admire -- you're never aware, when reading him, of how good he is, or sense him behind the scenes pulling the strings. He doesn't attempt to be "writerly," and for the most part avoids tropes like the I'm-so-badass-I-talk-incessantly-about-my-dick one mentioned above. The result is that you are sucked into the story and remain there, undistracted, until it's over. That's the kind of writer I want to be -- an invisible one.
It was really good, so I put in a request for the second season, which was, naturally, checked out. It came in a couple of days ago, and, as is usual when visiting the liberry, I had a look-see at the new books, and picked up a couple by a Well Known (male) Author. Sadly, upon attempting to read them, I was greeted by pointless references to the (male) protagonists' genitalia, early in both tomes. Of course, I put them down immediately and stuck Season Two in the DVD player.
I was struck by the contrast between Elmore Leonard's characters and the characters in the two books I'd just rejected. I'm a qualified fan of Leonard's; I don't love everything he's ever written, but the stuff I do love, I love a lot. He has this ability to disappear that I really admire -- you're never aware, when reading him, of how good he is, or sense him behind the scenes pulling the strings. He doesn't attempt to be "writerly," and for the most part avoids tropes like the I'm-so-badass-I-talk-incessantly-about-my-dick one mentioned above. The result is that you are sucked into the story and remain there, undistracted, until it's over. That's the kind of writer I want to be -- an invisible one.
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