Ridiculous plots

[Jacqui Horwood]

I've been reading quite a lot of crime books for a book award and I've have to say I've come across some ridiculous plotlines.  It's made me wonder how some books get published.  Does a ridiculous plotline matter if the writing is amazing or will the plot still be silly regardless?  Should writers have a good think before turning that strange fact they've discovered into a plot or should everything be grist for the mill?

[Benoit AKoa]

Keep in mind that before this expedition, many scholars had already writen about this subject and the reason of the said tests was an attempt to debunk those who for centuries claimed even though that was the real tumb of Jesus, he could not have been married.
Feb. 25, 2007 — New scientific evidence, including DNA analysis conducted at one of the world's foremost molecular genetics laboratories, as well as studies by leading scholars, suggests a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.
The findings also suggest that Jesus and Mary Magdalene might have produced a son named Judah.

The DNA findings, alongside statistical conclusions made about the artifacts — originally excavated in 1980 — open a potentially significant chapter in Biblical archaeological history.

A documentary presenting the evidence, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," will premiere on the Discovery Channel on March 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The documentary comes from executive producer James Cameron and director Simcha Jacobovici.

As to earlier works and many other written into works of fiction: Breaking the da Vinci code: answers to the questions everybody's asking By Darrell L. Bock 1973

The Da Vinci code and the secrets of the Temple By Robin Griffith-Jones 2006

[Benoit AKoa]

Also as a child, growing up in the church, this was not a strange concept. I still remember that French guy who claiming to be a decendant had an obscure relative who wrote a very similar book in France back in the early 1980s. Gosh the subject is so old I honestly. Look it up. You will find stories of the Holy Grail relating to Jesus and his child all over the place.

[I. J. Parker]

Well, not brilliant. Anything but. But it did hit the nerve: i.e. feminism (let's rewrite religion for women, for who wants a male God and Christ, and Mary is too Catholic) and anti-Catholicism (all those nasty priests who play with little boys, and besides this is Protestant Fundamentalism country and we hate the Roman church).

His factual detail was designed for the uneducated who are more likely to swallow it hook, line, and sinker.

[Benoit AKoa]

I am with you on that. The whole concept ewas wet. He took a really beat-up idea and made it fit HIS ONLY PLOT. Thanks to having enough cash for a monster marketing campaign they were able to muscle the concept into the minds of SHEEP who now view him as the IT. Lucky him. Like I said, its all business, nothing personal.

[Eric Christopherson]

I don't find anything said here that changes my mind: Brown was original in wedding these old ideas to the thriller format. Brilliant from a commercial standpoint.

But let's not be too simplistic in our analysis of Brown. He has deep flaws even as a commercial fiction artist, but he comes up with good premises and keeps the tension and suspense in high gear with his plotting, and his narrative has a drive to it. Without those qualities his book wouldn't have taken off IMO.

[Lindy Cameron]

Eric - you're quite right about Brown being the first to use the 'factual' concepts in a fictional thriller. The blokes who sued him reckon he stole their 'facts' from their non-fiction work on the subject. Given that some of the millions of people who bought the Da Vinci Code probably then went out and bought their book - which had probably sold only a few thousand beforehand, made them just look petulant and greedy. They should've ridden on his coat tails even more.. by saying, well 'you've read the fiction, now read the truth it was based on.'

[I. J. Parker]

Could you really accept an Albino monk with frequent flyer miles as a viable villain?

[Dana King]

I suppose so, if you can accept the fact of the eviscerated curator at the Louvre positioning himself in such a manner to leave obscure clues for someone who might not get to see them instead of taking his last few minutes to leave a note or, dare I say it, call an ambulance?

[Benoit AKoa]

Brown is good, do not get me wrong. His flaws go to show that anyone who writes well can make it and give you and I hope. Like Samual L Jackson, a former Crack head made it to be one of the the wealthies actors in the world, leaving no excuse for other crack heads wanting to leave the life, Brown gives us all hope.

[Vic]

*His factual detail was designed for the uneducated who are more likely to swallow it hook, line, and sinker.*

as Catherine Deveny says - an invisible bloke who lives in the sky....hmmmm...there's plenty of swallowing of that hook line and sinker. You don't have to be uneducated to question it either.

[I. J. Parker]

That's true enough. Actually, it was educated readers who ended up rejecting Brown's concepts.

[Lindy Cameron]

Which country is a Protestant Fundametalist one who hate the Roman church, IJ?