Suzanne Collins
5 entries. 1,659 words.
2012-04
-
On The Hunger Games.
2012-04-12.
I finally get around to reading Hunger Games. (See what I did there?) I think it’s not terrible. It’s a decent action adventure yarn, but it’s not very deep, which I suppose is normal for a young adult book. It has a Dan Brown sort of flavor to it. I would have given it three stars out of five (“I liked it”) on GoodReads, except I did not like the ending, so I went back down to two stars (“it was ok”).
- Books
-
Hunger Games Dialog Tags.
2012-04-13.
One thing I forgot to mention about The Hunger Games: The dialog tags. It’s funny the things you notice when you’re an aspiring writer. Suzanne Collins uses the “X said” model when Katniss says something, but uses the “said X” model when other people speak. Like this:
“I’m leaving,” I say.
“You can’t,” says John.
But then, if she uses a pronoun, she goes back to the “X said” model. (Obviously, because “says he” would be dumb.
- Books
-
Hunger Games Descriptions.
2012-04-15.
As I’m reading the Hunger Games trilogy (I’m on the last book now), I am trying to analyze why it is so popular and addictive. The story is okay, the characters are okay, the setting is okay, but somehow it adds up to something greater than the sum of its parts. Maybe it’s all marketing.
One thing I noticed just now, which contributes to the fast-paced, concise text: There are hardly any descriptions of the settings.
- Books
-
Subject-less Sentences.
2012-04-16.
I noticed another little trick Suzanne Collins used to pull readers along at breakneck speed in The Hunger Games. I hadn’t noticed it in the first two books, but I saw it often in Mockingjay, the last book.
She often clips the subjects off of sentences, especially in scenes of intense action or confusion. For example, she might take a paragraph like this:
I walk into the room. I open the curtains.
- Writing
- Process
2013-07
-
Deconstructing The Hunger Games.
2013-07-24.
(This unpublished gem has been sitting in my drafts since April 16, 2012.)
Stolen image of The Hunger Games’s book cover from Amazon.com.
Okay, I have figured out the magical formula for making a hit Young Adult book. It’s really quite easy.
The story elements in The Hunger Games:
A smart and tough, but emotionally vulnerable hero.
A love triangle with a bunch of confused feelings.
A personal vendetta against a villain.
- Writing