Book Review or 'Wtf did I just read'

So. I'm reading Characters & Viewpoints by Orson Scott Card because I figured it couldn't hurt, right?

And while I'll admit up front I have actually found some information of value in this book, I'm not exactly sure about the rest of his advice...

I'll get into it more in-depth after this quick example. First off, he offers us two scenes to establish a character with the use of stereotypes.

Here they are:

The old man was wearing a suit that might have been classy ten years ago when it was new, when it was worn by somebody with a body large enough to fill it. On this man it hung so long and loose that the pants bagged at the ankle and scuffed along the sidewalk, and the sleeves came down so low that his hands and the neck of his wine bottle were invisible.

and

She heard them before she saw them, laughing and talking jive behind her, shouting because the ghetto-blaster was rapping away at top volume. Just kids on the street in the evening, right? Walking around outside because finally the air was cooling off enough that you could stand to move. One of them jostled her as he passed. Was it the same one who laughed? A few yards on, they stopped as if they were waiting for her to catch up with them. The one with the boom box watched her approach, a wide toothy grin on his face. She clutched her purse tighter under her arm and looked straight ahead. If I don't see them, she thought, they won't bother me.

He then crows about how it was a wino and scary black kids and how we all knew from his stereotype words, even though he never specified it was either. He's very proud of his writing feat. Especially the jive talk bit. Then he says 'let's turn this on its head!'

( He doesn't mean what I thought with that )

(no subject)

Oh, sorry guys. I forgot this part of the talk on insane characters:

The only time insanity can work for a character is when it's kept within safe bounds—minor eccentricities that can even be rather charming. And even then, an insane character is almost never viable as the main character in the story. The audience is rarely comfortable enough with insane characters to want to spend any length of time with them.

Although it's okay to want to use them for sex, I guess, Orson*.


*See last post