I’d quite agree. Some really good ideas, but like Clarke, I don’t think much of a lot of the writing if/when I revisit their work.
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We should probably fork this to an SF thread if we want to continue, but I have felt Clarke has held up better rereading old favorites like Dolphin Island or A Fall of Moondust. He had a better sense of character and drama. Sometimes. Rama was dry dry dry.
I misunderstood you then. Sorry.
Earworm that popped into my head 
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Now in mine 
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I have done a couple now through these guys: https://iwp.uiowa.edu/iwp-courses/distance-learning-courses/moocs I have only done free participation, I have not shelled out for a piece of paper.
My biggest problems are that a) it tries to be a program for everybody but b) there are so many different levels of practice and language levels that it can be frustrating, especially when it’s hard to determine whether problems with misunderstandings like the above are the result of bad writing on my part or people unused to the style / genre not quite grasping some of the conventions. Also, since the instructors write lesson posts and answer questions but don’t (understandably, due to the size) actually look at the assignments, it’s kind of a free-for-all on critique. I have gotten some decent, helpful criticism, but also some 'splaining from people who are parroting a guideline from the lecture as an ironclad rule. I think the worst was someone who claimed to work in the industry (but no other details), telling me that something I see in books all the time (dialogue that segued into action without a dialogue specific tag like ‘said’) would result in an editor throwing it away.
But the assignments and having deadlines was good in that it got me writing more and with a little more purpose than if just left to my own devices. And I did pick up some decent tricks from some of the lectures. Not to mention the fact that it did make me consider audience that much more.
It also didn’t help that the last one was in October - November and I wasn’t feeling super trusting of strangers online at that moment.
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Just as bad. It was only after they established themselves in my head I realised that Alice is the narrator’s girlfriend – the narrator whose last name is Roberts and goes by the nickname Bobby. 
I may or may not have been reading a book on cryptography at the time.
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I like to start a series at the beginning if possible.
I don’t need to know who all the players are but I do need to know the characters in the book. If you really need to mention a character but I have no idea who it is, I’m fine if its going to be explained later in the story, and it should be written with this in mind. If I have to go read another story so I understand what’s happening in this one, then I’d rather read that story instead.
This might not bother me personally but I don’t know if this is relevant to establishing Alice’s familiarity with the character, or establishing that she is an acquaintance to both characters.
The former needs the reader to know who Alice is, the latter will naturally have a payoff in another part of the story.
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I’m definitely in the former category, while my spouse is in the latter. I love the thrilling feeling of disorientation when being dropped into a new world, assuming that all will become clear in time (David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks as a specific example). The contrary position as I understand it is “Please don’t play shell games with me for the sake of cheap suspense.”
I suspect this is very reader dependent and unfortunately have no idea if either camp represents a baseline.
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That just reminded me of how my dad would ALWAYS get us to a movie late. He had no problem picking up on what was going on, but shushed us for asking.
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Thank you. I am trying to think from a reader’s perspective more, and I know I don’t always read stories or see things in the same way that someone else might. I find it also helps when looking at someone else’s work: such differences in style aren’t necessarily wrong or bad but may reflect a different type of reader/intended audience. Which is partly why I asked this question, the other part being simple, human curiosity. I like to learn how other people think and see things.
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So frustrating! While I like to be dropped into an ongoing narrative and picking things up on the fly, I am (for lack o fa better metaphor) adamant about starting my journey on page 1, not from page 75.
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For me, it depends on the author and series. Some authors write stories that are linear, and use the same settings and characters. There is progression over the course of the series, but slowly. And each book has a story which begins and ends in that book. For those, it is nice to read them in order, but not critical. Most series that tell one long tale over the course of several books are ones that I read in order, if at all possible.
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[quote=“MalevolentPixy, post:1, topic:98162”]
How do you read?[/quote]
I take my eyes and go like this
No, in seriousness I like to read stories in the order that they were written (which isn’t necessarily the chronological order of the stories themselves). That way you can get them from the same view that the author would have had at the time, as any stories based earlier depend upon what was already written.
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I much prefer starting from the beginning if a series is sequential. But something like Agatha Christie’s Poirot novels - there’s a clear beginning and end to the series, but it’s not really important. In fact people have tried to order those chronologically (based on references to other cases and the presence or absence of side characters like Hastings and Miss Lemon) and it’s almost impossible.
As for trusting that things will be explained later, well, one of my favorite authors is Sheri S. Tepper. None of her books make sense at all in the first two or three chapters, you just have to trust that all things will become clear eventually.
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Perhaps a little less blatant exposition would work, though. Maybe following up “Alice could have told him […].” with a partial reason for her knowing, hinting at the relationship.
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I’m willing for the story to be told in as non-linear a fashion as the author can organize. I like that the Star Wars movies started at Episode IV, and they’ve gone ahead and subdivided that. Inception was a bit much, but well wrangled. I like what Terry Brooks did with Shannara over the so many series I can’t even, but the few i read I just picked up and started from then. Mostly the only books I can’t keep track of all the characters in are Russian and old.
If you can make a quality universe, go for it
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If it’s a series, I generally start at the beginning if at all possible. One big reason being that series where the stories in later books are impacted by previous ones tend to need a bit of covering of previous stories, and the only thing I hate more than an overly-wordy retread of the previous book I’ve read is to read that retread and then need to go back and read the entire story that was just summed up for me.
I don’t mind if there are references to things I haven’t been exposed to yet as part of character building, however. For example, I’ve just finished “Rise” by “Mira Grant” (Seanan McGuire), which is essentially a collection of short stories set in the same world. Some of those stories refer obliquely to major past events that aren’t covered until later stories in the collection, and that’s (usually) just fine by me… it’s more like foreshadowing in that case. (though, it’s foreshadowing the past, so… pastshadowing?)
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Sounds about par for the course for MOOCs
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Oh yeah, that’s right. You are right! As in, perhaps: “Alice could have told him I’m no good at flirting…we’ve been married, what? 20 years? She still tries to flirt with me, and she says I just don’t pick up on it…Oh man, anniversary’s coming up, isn’t it? I gotta remember to get flowers…And here’s this complete stranger trying to flirt with me, as though I would know how…” Or whatever.
Thanks for pointing that out. I may have been taking @daaksyde ’s comment far too literally. 
Thank you again. Best regards!
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I like to wait until something is done, then binge it.
George RR Martin, won’t you please Die already?
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