14 December 2010

PLOT SUSPENSE

I recently read a book where I could already guess what would happen at the end and who the ‘bad guy’ was, long before the actually end of the story. At first I felt triumphant at my cleverness (apologies for my lack of modesty), but then felt quite perturbed that the second half of the book held no new revelations for me.


As it the mystery and suspense in a storyline that helps keep us reading, I started thinking...


HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT A BOOK WHEN YOU CAN GUESS
WHAT WILL HAPPEN AT THE END?

From the point of view of the writer, should there be more twists and turns etc to stop the reader from guessing exactly what will happen?



Thoughts please...

2 comments:

Cristina said...

I like endings with twists... when I finish that last page I want my heart to be racing with excitement, or angry at the author for unexpectedly killing my favorite character... so if I guess the ending half way through the book and I get to the end and I was right? I'm disappointed.

so yes, I think it's the writer's job to keep it interesting.

Jamie Gibbs said...

I'm a big fan of a book that keeps me guessing, though I've come across a few that put in twists purely for the sake of having a twist, which sticks out like a sore thumb and detracts from the writing. Knowing the ending (more or less) can be combated so long as the writer puts in enough conflict to carry the characters through the rest of the story.