The Salem Branch - Your thoughts

[Nancy]

Yes, that is quite curious.  Lara admitted to me that she had to start watching "episodes" which surprised me as it sounded as if she had only recently done so.  I think this sort of thing is what rankles fanfic writers who feel the characters in their very bones . . . .

And there is no excuse for lack of research especially know with the availability of the internet.  For that matter, you can call and ask questions of a reference librarian in an area you want to write about if you are unable to visit!  At the very least a writer can do that.

Nancy

I haven't read THE SALEM BRANCH yet, but my biggest problem with ANGELIQUE'S DESCENT was Lara's portrayal of familiar characters, making them seem strangely UNfamiliar. Her storytelling is certainly competent, and I would imagine it has improved with her experience since AD. I hope she does a better job of nailing the characters this time around.

Lord knows, my favorite part of writing DREAMS OF THE DARK was getting inside the people of Collinwood and trying to make sure they really -were- the people we know from Collinwood. While I think there was room for some improvement in areas, I think we did OK.

[David]

When one isn't in love with the work they're doing, it shows!
Look at how brilliant the DS writing was for 1795 & 1897, and how sloppy it was for 1840, when the cast/crew had gotten tired of the show & wanted to move on.
Also notice the flat lighting in 1840.......

David

[BuzzH]

Lord knows, my favorite part of writing DREAMS OF THE DARK was getting inside the people of Collinwood and trying to make sure they really -were- the people we know from Collinwood. While I think there was room for some improvement in areas, I think we did OK.

This is a good point Mark.  I try and do the same when I write DS fiction and hopefully when ppl read my stories/novel they'll say to themselves, "Yep, I can totally see that character doing that or hear that character saying that".  Of course, I'm a big dialog writer, not sure what that signifies...maybe I'm a screenwriter at heart. 

[Sunny_Collins]

I've never read either of the Lara Parker books because they haven't been published in braille. The first one has been made available in an Ebook form, but I don't have the necessary software yet. Maybe soon I'll be able to, then I can form a proper opinion. 

[Janet the Wicked]

My roomate is reading it now. She loves it, but hasn't come to the end. Will post her opinion later. But she is enjoying it.
I am in the midst of reading the Grayson Hall bio which is just wonderful. The author did a thorough job. It takes alot of hard work and dedication to research an obscure actor and my heart goes out to her. She really did a nice job.

[michael c]

i bought the book at the fest but have yet to crack a page(although i am about half way through r.j. jamison's tome).

but the truth is that i bought it more as a gesture of support for lara parker than for any interest i might actually have in it's "plot".

i guess for me my enjoyment of the show is in the total picture.not just the characters but the actors who played them then...their faces,their voices.the music,the sets,the clothes.for me it just doesn't translate well to any other medium.i love the naive,time-capsule element of it.

i enjoyed the first of the new audiodramas but mostly for the "goosepimplyness" of hearing those voices and that music combined again.to tell you the truth i pretty much forget the plot just a few days later.

i intend to read lara's book and i'll either like it or not but it won't factor into my feelings about the show itself.
in truth the story that lara the author is telling now just isn't as compelling to me as the one lara the actor,portraying an impossibly gorgeous,twenty-year-old witch,told then.the eyes alone more telling than anything written on a page.
for this reason i've never had much interest in fan-fiction either.

besides,with so many new offerings,many involving the same key participants,telling such wildly differing stories,it's impossible for me to square this with "canon" and have it be real.

in terms of comtemporary literary offerings i enjoy the non-fiction biographies best.i liked "the bennett's,an acting family" and am enjoying "a hard act to follow" despite the fact that i'm not otherwise remotely interested in the theater arts.

all this said i'm glad these new works are in production and i hope they are well-liked.just in terms of my own feelings about it the original is where i'm at.

[Gerard]

While it was enjoyable reading a Dark Shadows book, I have to say that The Salem Branch was not my favorite.  As mentioned, the ending was not - how shall I phrase it? - to my taste.  Now, as for Angelique's Descent, I absolutely loved it.  Adored it.  I read it three times, and my copy is still in pristine condition (and I'll never sell it, unless the asking price hits five figures).  I think one of my problems with DS - TSB is that it is written, or seems to be, specifically for DS fans.  Anyone not familiar with the series would be completely perplexed as to who these people are, why they act the way they do, and what's it all about.  Its audience appeal is limited.  My friend who bought me my copy as a gift has no idea what DS is all about, other than what he's heard from me.  After I finished it, he asked if he should read it.  I explained that it would be too puzzling for him; he would not understand what was going on.  Instead, I gave him the rough first draft of my DS novel - The Watcher on the Hill.  In that one (I wrote it in 1999 as a where-are-they-now, the story set around 2000), I went into quick but rather complete descriptions of what happened in the series, dispersed throughout the book, so a reader who had no familiarity would get an idea of things.

Gerard

[Midnite]

I haven't read THE SALEM BRANCH yet, but my biggest problem with ANGELIQUE'S DESCENT was Lara's portrayal of familiar characters, making them seem strangely UNfamiliar. Her storytelling is certainly competent, and I would imagine it has improved with her experience since AD. I hope she does a better job of nailing the characters this time around.

Unfortunately, she doesn't.  Though it's not true of all her characterizations in TSB, she misses the mark on a few of them.  For example, she wrote when introducing Quentin:

An inveterate bachelor, he was the sort of philanderer whose faĤade, Barnabas knew, hid the soul of a man who secretly feared and despised women. He charmed them with ease, and abandoned them just as quickly once he became bored with them. And he made no apologies for his behavior. A sinister and elegant exterior hid an empty shell, callous and compassionless.

Oh really?  Did she watch the parts of the series when Quentin fell wholly in love with Amanda and Daphne?  Perhaps we can excuse her for missing the latter storyline, but Angelique was certainly around to taunt Amanda.  As as I said, this is only one example for one character.

The first Big Finish CD, OTOH, contains a scene that feels very right in which Quentin mocks Angelique for being oblivious to pure love.

But this is only part of why I'm getting little enjoyment out of the book.  The other problem I have with it is her writing style, which I would describe as having too many words that don't really add much except to muddy the narrative.  This was most obvious in the earliest chapters.  Just because you could use adjectives and adverbs doesn't mean that you should.   :-

Lord knows, my favorite part of writing DREAMS OF THE DARK was getting inside the people of Collinwood and trying to make sure they really -were- the people we know from Collinwood. While I think there was room for some improvement in areas, I think we did OK.

Oh yes. 

[MsCriseyde]

The other problem I have with it is her writing style, which I would describe as having too many words that don't really add much except to muddy the narrative.  This was most obvious in the earliest chapters.  Just because you could use adjectives and adverbs doesn't mean that you should.

This is why I could barely make it through AD, so you've pretty much told me that I'm wise to skip this book. 

[Nancy]

I don't know if I mentioned this or not before but Lara Parker said to me at the festival that she needed to go back and watch the show and implied she never really had before. I don't know if this is because she has gotten feedback that she doesn't know the characters she is writing about or just getting to the realization that she needs to watch the show in order to know the characters.

Nancy

Oh really?  Did she watch the parts of the series when Quentin fell wholly in love with Amanda and Daphne?  Perhaps we can excuse her for missing the latter storyline, but Angelique was certainly around to taunt Amanda.  As as I said, this is only one example for one character.

[arashi]

Unfortunately, she doesn't.  Though it's not true of all her characterizations in TSB, she misses the mark on a few of them.  For example, she wrote when introducing Quentin:

An inveterate bachelor, he was the sort of philanderer whose faĤade, Barnabas knew, hid the soul of a man who secretly feared and despised women. He charmed them with ease, and abandoned them just as quickly once he became bored with them. And he made no apologies for his behavior. A sinister and elegant exterior hid an empty shell, callous and compassionless.

Oh really?  Did she watch the parts of the series when Quentin fell wholly in love with Amanda and Daphne?  Perhaps we can excuse her for missing the latter storyline, but Angelique was certainly around to taunt Amanda.  As as I said, this is only one example for one character.

I had a bit of trouble with that introduction as well. Even Dan Ross did a better job at characterizing Quentin in his later novels. I had some serious problems with things that Barnabas did as well. I mean really...

[spoiler]...dropping acid in the hippie commune in the woods?[/spoiler]

[David]

Discuss the book's flaws, yes, but please support it & help keep DS alive!

David

[BuzzH]

The other problem I have with it is her writing style, which I would describe as having too many words that don't really add much except to muddy the narrative.  This was most obvious in the earliest chapters.  Just because you could use adjectives and adverbs doesn't mean that you should.

Yes!!  OMG, that's spot on Midnite!  I feel the same way, and this is the reason I could NOT get thru AD!  It was like reading a Dickens novel!  She uses TOO many words, as if she were being PAID by the word, like Dickens was.  I got bored with all the descriptive stuff and just wanted her to get to the HEART of the story, which, IMHO, she didn't, at least up to the point where I put it down for good.

I also agree that, by your quote from TSB, that she was way off the mark concerning Quentin.  If her description were true, he wouldn't have had all the angst he did regarding Beth, Amanda and Daphne!  Let alone he wouldn't have given a fig about what was happening to his family and friends during Leviathan or the summer of 1970.  Sheesh!  

[BuzzH]

Discuss the book's flaws, yes, but please support it & help keep DS alive!

Not trying to pick a fight or anythig okay?  But why should I, or any fan, buy something that they don't want because they think it's not worth the money.  That seems a little silly to me.  I'm more than happy to support the stars in their new endeavors as much as possilbe, and have done so by going to the Frid show at Hofstra, buying most of KLS's books, even some of the non-DS themed ones, buying Marie's, Diana's and David's books, Louie's CD, Nancy's tape, Chris's comics and even one of Lara's books.  But I'm not going to throw away good money for something I know is going to be bad.   :-

[Midnite]

Please don't get me wrong-- I find descriptive writing very appealing... when it's done well.  Mark Rainey uses it to set a mood (which often means scaring the bejeebers out of me), as do many writers of DS fan fic: Nicky/WickedNick comes immediately to mind.  But packing in the adjectives feels like a lazy way to stir the senses.  I skimmed the first chapter and spotted this:

The blue satin of his inner sanctum bore not even a faint silhouette of his slumbering form.

Not a noun was left unqualfied.  The coffin was empty; we get it.  I understand that LP had a story to tell and her head was probably bursting with vivid (oops) ideas.  But I think she could do better at getting them across, especially with fans waiting in long lines to purchase her books.

I don't mean to harp on the point.  I offer this only to explain.