Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "protagonist"
The Limits of Teasing a Reader
Okay, Author, you've got a big secret in your book, something that happened to the main character in the past that has a bearing on how he/she acts today. Here are Peg's rules for dealing with it:
First, refer to it sparingly. I get tired of being reminded that there's something you know that I don't.
Second, make the clues progressive, so I have a chance of figuring it out, at least partly, before the end.
Third, the secret had better be good enough when I get there to justify the hints and clues. I want to feel what the character felt and decide I might have had the same reaction.
I guess it's pretty obvious that I just finished a book with such a secret. I got tired of the vague hints that kept coming up but never added to my understanding of the character. And in the end, I thought the author hurried through the explanation so that I never got the sense of experiencing the terrible event with the protagonist. He was so well drawn in the rest of the book that I felt cheated by being left out of his life-defining moment. I'd been teased all along, and then the author just walked away. Authors shouldn't do that.
First, refer to it sparingly. I get tired of being reminded that there's something you know that I don't.
Second, make the clues progressive, so I have a chance of figuring it out, at least partly, before the end.
Third, the secret had better be good enough when I get there to justify the hints and clues. I want to feel what the character felt and decide I might have had the same reaction.
I guess it's pretty obvious that I just finished a book with such a secret. I got tired of the vague hints that kept coming up but never added to my understanding of the character. And in the end, I thought the author hurried through the explanation so that I never got the sense of experiencing the terrible event with the protagonist. He was so well drawn in the rest of the book that I felt cheated by being left out of his life-defining moment. I'd been teased all along, and then the author just walked away. Authors shouldn't do that.
It's All About the New Book
I won't deny it: I'm excited about the book that's coming out this month, KILLING SILENCE. Really excited. It isn't up on Amazon yet, but it will be soon. (And I'll let you know!)
As a writer, I believe that everything I do should be better than the last thing, else why am I writing? Subgenres make that a little hard to judge. I write historical mysteries, and there are people who love them and wish I'd write nothing else. I also write a paranormal series, and some are intrigued by the idea of the Dead Detectives and want to know more about the world I imagine after this one.
The new series is mainstream mystery/suspense and what I like most about it is the protagonist, Loser the loser. She's homeless, she's damaged, and she's going to help a little girl keep her daddy, even if it kills her.
I was surprised at my workshop on Saturday when someone suggested that it must be hard to write a book with a homeless protagonist, since I have to "dumb down" the vocabulary and take into account her inability to think clearly.
I know there are homeless people who are scary or disgusting or pitiful, but Loser doesn't want you to think of her in any of those ways. Even though she considers herself the world's biggest loser, it doesn't mean she's any less a person than you or me. She might not believe it, but with the right incentive, I know she can crawl out of her despair.
(But I have to warn you: that's going to take two more books!)
As a writer, I believe that everything I do should be better than the last thing, else why am I writing? Subgenres make that a little hard to judge. I write historical mysteries, and there are people who love them and wish I'd write nothing else. I also write a paranormal series, and some are intrigued by the idea of the Dead Detectives and want to know more about the world I imagine after this one.
The new series is mainstream mystery/suspense and what I like most about it is the protagonist, Loser the loser. She's homeless, she's damaged, and she's going to help a little girl keep her daddy, even if it kills her.
I was surprised at my workshop on Saturday when someone suggested that it must be hard to write a book with a homeless protagonist, since I have to "dumb down" the vocabulary and take into account her inability to think clearly.
I know there are homeless people who are scary or disgusting or pitiful, but Loser doesn't want you to think of her in any of those ways. Even though she considers herself the world's biggest loser, it doesn't mean she's any less a person than you or me. She might not believe it, but with the right incentive, I know she can crawl out of her despair.
(But I have to warn you: that's going to take two more books!)
