Tolkein's narrative--I don't think you're offbase at all. Tolkein's gift was in his imaginative scope, his storytelling and some poetry. There are many awkward hitches and bumps in the flow of narrative, though. I'd still say he wrote the best story of the twentieth century. And for three years I'm going to have the movies under my Christmas tree!
The worst of our era are the Johns and the Anns. John Irving, Updike, and Ann Tyler, and there's another Ann who I've forgotten and who deserves to be. They write the most tedious, self-congratulatory drivel. Stories of small, self-pitying scope. Yet the critics keep praising them. Thankfully, they fall out of print and memory quickly. Phillip Roth, Kingsolving--they're all like the Johns and Anns in pretentiousness.
The worst of our era are the Johns and the Anns. John
Irving, Updike, and Ann Tyler, and there's another Ann who I've forgotten and who deserves to be. They write the most tedious, self-congratulatory drivel. Stories of small, self-pitying scope. Yet the critics keep praising them. Thankfully, they fall out of print and memory quickly. Phillip Roth, Kingsolving--they're all like the Johns and Anns in pretentiousness. Thank you, I feel validated now. What do you think of Margaret Atwood? Read Cat's Eye, very good writer, but not a character in it I could root for.
You are simply not allowed to create characters who are morally good. They must be "complex", which is Hollywood-ese for "screwed up".