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Posted by: SonicJohn
Not sure if it's been mentioned, but:
The issue you have with the story is not Traviss. It is Frankie and the rest of the 343i team.
Traviss is merely pouring water into buckets already fleshed out and outlined by 343's writing team. I honestly do not believe that this is her fault (after all, on the basis of my father's extreme reading habits, he absolutely adored her previous work).
So if there's no action, empty plotlines, irritating filler, it's unavoidable for her to have avoided that. There's only so much artistic license you can have as a contracted author.
It's the same issue I had with the Forerunner books. It's not the authors; it's the plot. It's hard to fill in the gaps in an exciting way. I believe they were actually technically well written, but plot content is definitely poor.
Although, on the whole, I believe the stories are okay, but I'm sure that there's a lot of magic missed and lost in the communication between the team and the authors. Another person's vision is hard to achieve.
The writers actually have a whole lot more control over the stories they're writing than you think. Yes there are outlines given, but not as in depth as you seem to think they are. Every single one of the Elites being evil human-haters is not 343i's vision, that is completely and totally Traviss taking what she was told and running with it and taking it over-board. Like I imagine she was told to have a civil war start up amongst the Elites due to some being dissatisfied with the Arbiter, and that this would lead to the origins and creation of the Storm Covenant (who are the ones who do wish to continue fighting humans)....however, all of the Elites turning on the Arbiter and sharing the exact same opinion as the Storm, that humans need to be exterminated, is a conclusion that Traviss leap to all on her own and not from 343i. Just as Halsey being made into a simpering weakling that'll roll over for anyone is also Traviss, and Mendez inexplicable hating Halsey and deciding she's the devil incarnate and all of the other vilifying and character assassination that Traviss did with Halsey. Halsey being imprisoned, however, I'm sure is a possibility that came from 343i...but not the reasons for it happening.
Posted by: MasterSin
The thing is, she writes what she's told to write, it wouldn't really matter if they pick another writer, but I do believe Eric Nylund would do a way better job than hers.
That's only true to an extent. The writers are only given a bare-bones summary and it's completely their responsibility to flesh out all of the details. Like Glasslands Trilogy for instance, Traviss would have been told to have the Sangheili Civil War and about Jul who would become the leader of the Storm Covenant and how he would be working with the revolutionaries before going on to found the Storm Covenant. The writers are only told the basics...all of the details and the fleshing out of the story comes from whoever the writer is. So while yes there would still probably be a Sangheili Civil War, and Jul would still go on to found the Storm...the details of that would be better treated. Like for instance most of the Elites would be supporting the Arbiter and sharing his views on humanity, the one who actively still want humans dead would compose the minority, same with those who want to get rid of Thel. And Halsey would also not be demonized and all of the characters would remain true to their established personalities.