A ponderance:

When reading a novel you've picked up at the bookstore/grocery
store/wherever, do you find yourself reading along, enjoying the
book, when suddenly you come across THIS:

I've been saying something like this for years.  When's the last time you
read a book in script format?  Doesn't that suggest that script format is
not appropriate for stories with no visual medium?  But I digress...

 Of course, in recent memory I can think of only one book that did
something like that: a Star Wars novel called 'Madalorian Armor,' which
had a lot of promise, but barely treads water (IMHO, and I ain't pickin'
up the rest of the series, either).

I absolutely agree.  I was quite intrigued by Boba Fett's characterization
in the Han Solo trilogy (not the Brian Daley one, the newer one).  I wanted
to see that characterization expanded upon.  Alas, "Madalorian Armor"
doesn't do any characterization at all.  It's a tepid plot with unconvincing
dialogue and inconsistent characterizations.  How did such an awful book get
published - doesn't anyone at the publishing company *read* these things
before paying the authors?  I, too, don't plan on reading the other two
books.  I think many of the fanfic writers on this list could have done a
*much* better job.

Hmm.  How about "Heart of Mandalorin Armor" or "Mandalorian Armor 2096"?  Or
"The Long and Winding Mandalorian Armor"?  Any of those would have been much
better, I think.  :)

At the beginning of each chapter there might be something like
'THEN...' or 'NOW,' which really bugged me to no end.

It didn't bug me as much, but I agree it was unnecessary.

People, there IS NO REASON to smash people upside the head
with a huge neon sign that says "HEY! Hey you! Stupid reader
person! Flashback here!  Flashback, you hear me? FLASHBACK!"

Perhaps the sign is not there especially for the reader, but the
author.

This could be the case.  I once cut and pasted a large section of text - a
Ranma monologue - so that I could refer to it while framing Akane's reply.
Then I forgot to remove it, thus giving Ranma the exact same speech within a
few paragraphs.

Of course, it could also be just a lazy way of introducing a
flashback (as in the aformentioned SW novel...).

I'm not sure "lazy" is appropriate.  It's just one of those "experience"
things.  We learn by doing.

--Razorclaw X

-Richard