vocabulary term for critiquing?

Cliche.

unimaginative

And the overuse of melodramatic settings would be cliche and unimaginative?

I could make an arguement for Sentient Milieu, but you'd have to take liberties on the definitions of both words.

Climatological synchronicity

greglondon said:

I'm sure it would. But "empathic universe" is much more specific way of telling an author what didn't work for me as a reader.

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Two problems: you'll have to explain it (only 20 hits on Google), and, like everything else, an empathic universe not bad unless it's overused.

It would to me if someone had to keep using the same old scenes for their settings.

Julie Worth said:

And the overuse of melodramatic settings would be cliche and unimaginative?

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greglondon said:

If you have me read a book where it rains during a funeral, even once,
I will shake my head in disgust.

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Can I have drizzle? How about blustery and cold, but no rain at all? Or how about crows? A great flock of crows that darken a sunny day?

...I've been to seventeen funerals, ten of them military, not that that matters, but anyway, it rained at twelve, maybe thirteen of them.

My life is cliche. o_o

greglondon said:

And for me it is bad, even if you use it once.
If you have me read a book where it rains during a funeral, even once,
I will shake my head in disgust.
I may keep reading because other stuff is going on that's good,
but for me personally, my experience as a reader is,
"blech".

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Hmm, not even once? It really truly does rain sometimes at funerals, you know. If a big deal is made of it, I'm with you, but if the weather helps establish atmosphere now and again, I'll go along happily. But it has to be done seldom, and subtly. None of this "as if the sky were crying along with them" kind of stuff. In real life, weather conditions can amplify certain emotions, so if it's handled in that way, I have no objection. A book in which the sky was always at loggerheads with the events would be just as artificial.

Judg said:

A book in which the sky was always at loggerheads with the events would be just as artificial.

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But it could be fun to play with. Especially if the characters knew it -- "Hey, it's sunny today. Something awful's going to happen!"

If it's sunny at weddings, it's raining at funerals, and we follow this to a logical conclusion........does it hail at baptisms? Does it bluster at graduation parties? Does it tornado at Bar mitzvahs?

I think if your novel as a touch of metaphysical in it of some sort, then I might be a little more lenient. In American Gods, it gets colder and colder and more wintery as things go bad....but then again, it's also happening during the winter months. Toward the end of the novel, it's spring again...but even if no events had bene happening, it would have been spring, it was that time of the year.

greglondon said:

It's defined here
http://www.sfwa.org/writing/glossary.html
which is good enough for me to be considered a "legitimate" term,

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David Smith's list is interesting. Sprinkling your critique with a half dozen of his terms would leave a budding writer thinking you were terribly smart, if not downright frightening.

Perhaps "pathetic fallacy" is a good term for what you want to say?

greglondon said:

I found it on another writing website. The term I was looking for was:

"empathic universe"
or
"melodramatic setting"

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Sounds good, but basically, they're cliches. Happy settings for happy moments, sad setting for sad, horrifying settings for intense/horrifying moments. They're moods -- if use sparingly, they serve a purpose. But if every funeral is on a rainy, windy day, of if every wedding is picture perfect, it's unrealistic (or at least melodramatic).

midwife said:

Perhaps "pathetic fallacy" is a good term for what you want to say?

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I believe 'pathetic fallacy' refers more to the attribution of human characteristics or emotions to inanimate objects. Such as "an angry storm," or "a wise old tree." Just linking weather to the characters' moods or actions doesn't really apply.

Bartholomew said:

I could make an arguement for Sentient Milieu, but you'd have to take liberties on the definitions of both words.

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I think you could make a novel out of Sentient Milieu if you put your mind to it.

When my step-dad died 9 years ago last September. The day of the funeral was bright and sunny. I stood at the front of the church, but took no notice of the service at all. I was too busy watching the sun dancing through a small hole in the lead from the stained glass window; that made me feel more that God was around, than what the actual service did, it was beautiful.

Ellie

maestrowork said:

But if every funeral is on a rainy, windy day, of if every wedding is picture perfect, it's unrealistic (or at least melodramatic).

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At my little cousin's' funeral, it was November. The day was crisp, frosty and bright. The sky was a brilliant blue, and when Austin's classmates released a hundred balloons, one silver Nemo balloon stood out and our eyes followed its sparkle until it finally disappeared. Apologies to passing airplanes, but the effect was beautiful and uplifting.

Aunt Dora's funeral, in another November, was chilly and drizzly.

It's sad when a child dies isn't it; it's something that you can never forget. My little sister of 7 died when I was 15, well over 30 years ago now. But you never forget how it feels and how they're going to miss the things that we've taken for granted through our adult years, like falling in love etc.