Review: Editing with Thesaurus
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 8, 2013
We've all read books that seem to have been edited with a spell checker.  In the case of the Powerless Omnibus I think Mr. Letts used a thesaurus.  Without reading the actual definitions of the various synonyms.I bought the Omnibus as part of a batch of books from StoryBundle.com, in part because the description sounded interesting.  And the author's premise and development were good.  Did he have brainstorming sessions with friends and fellow authors to dream up different and ever-weirder 'powers'?  His using "Who are you" to a just-met stranger to ask about his power showed without further description how integral these powers were to denizens of his world. 4 stars for plot and characterization.But the writing.  "Barren hillsides and destitute wasteland"?  "Their friendship kept his dire heart beating"?And what is wrong with the word "Said"?  In just one page of dialogue, characters 'denied', 'quivered' and 'moaned'.  On another page,  'blubbered', 'argued', 'noted', 'defended'.  Spend a little more time figuring out how to show who is speaking without using the phrase "Vern/Mira/Will/etc. said". Add in the fact that sometimes the verb used didn't match the plot line at the time and the style became jarring.Actually, the odd word choices became so overwhelming they added to my enjoyment of the book - I'm picky about editing but this was so out of the ordinary all I could do was laugh and try to figure out why Mr. Letts chose the words he did.