I'll admit it. I'm addicted to Book Candy--in the form of David and Leigh Eddings. Granted, they use stock characters. Granted, the prose is laden with unnecessary adverbs and gerunds (and let's not even MENTION the dreaded "to be"), but despite the prose-level quirks, I always find myself falling into the story.
This leads me to a scary thought--what if Writing is more than blindly obeying Strunk and White? What are all the Creative Writing programs in the nation (and they're multiplying by the day) going to do? Will they (*gasp*) start teaching STORY instead of Perfect Prose?
I'm not saying that Perfect Prose doesn't have its place. Would Eddings' books be stronger without the over-done generic characterizations (such as Silk's "laconic" nature, or anytime he says something "sardonicly")? I say that they would, but at the same time, I'm not going to stop reading them because they have commit Prose Sins. Why? Because they're generally a whale of a ride from beginning to end. The Good Guys win, the World is Saved, and it's done in a very entertaining manner. This stuff is perfect for reading right before you fall asleep--you can put it down easily, but you still want to pick it up the next night.
Other writers, such as Ursula LeGuin or A.S. Byatt, require more thought. They address complex issues with a deft language that sucks me into their world. Their prose is polished and poetic but still fresh and new. This is the literary legacy I want to be part of.
But, damn, Book Candy is fun to read.
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