Is SRD a "writer's writer"?

[deer of the dawn]

Musicians talk about so-and-so being a 'musician's musician', someone with a loyal following among other musicians but not necessarily appreciated by the general public. I've noticed that there are lots of writers here and I wonder-- is Donaldson a writer's writer?

Take a look at his writing. Don't all writers wish they could have a vision as HUGE as the Land? He took a leprous rapist and made us believe in him. How amazing is that! Plus he gets to use words like 'crepuscular' and somehow gets away with it.

Yet, no blockbuster movie deal as of yet, and let's be honest-- who is he writing the Last Chronicles for? You just can't pick up and read AATE without having read thousands of pages already. In other words, his loyalty and faithfulness to his writing vision and his fans is way beyond what we have come to expect as readers from most other writers. He is the writer we all think we as writers should be.

[lurch]

Musicians refer to a fellow musician as a Musicians Musician,,when the musician is doing stuff that perhaps only a fellow musician can appreciate,,for its technical mastery,,or theoretical virtuosity etc. With that in mind ..Shakespeare comes to mind when contemplating a writer's writer. And,,it seems to me , at least in TCoTC..SRD does have a bit of fun tipping his hat to the Bard. One example was his use of the word " coign" in the opening of FR. "Coign" is reportedly, a word first used by..Shakespeare. Thee is a lot more Shakespeare in the opening of FR,,but you get the idea...So..to answer the question, even tho I am Not a pro-writer,yes,,SRD has to be admired by at least the fantasy/ sci-fi writers of the world. The Gap series remains in a class by itself, imho.,and It seems to me,,any writer who is truly in love with English language, has got to admire SRD

[Avatar]

Shakespeare was a hack. He was writing for profit. Hell, he didn't even publish his plays because he was worried about other people stealing and performing them.

Hell, he made up words to use, which by virtue of his having made them up became common in language.

--A

[Horrim Carabal]

"Crepuscular" is not that uncommon a word. It's used all the time to describe sunset photographs.

As for SRD being a "writers writer"...I'd say yes, he is. Not that you have to be a writer to appreciate what he's done, but if you are a writer its even more amazing.

Unlike someone like (say) Eddings, whose books seem even smaller and more insignificant once you start writing.

[deer of the dawn]

I believe that Willy the Shake is also the only one to use the word "roynish" in literature. Holy crepuscular!

You really have to appreciate SRD for the fact that he is writing to such a limited audience at this point. He could be still aiming for that blockbuster novel that would allow him to actually pay off his mortgage, stuff like that.

My Dad was talking to me about how this search is on to find the next big epic story to make into a movie series (a la Harry Potter). If the movies were big and expensive, they could possibly do TFC justice, with the right director. That coming from someone who dreaded the filmization of LoTR, but in the end thought they did ok.