Consequence as a Reader's Guide
A well-written story brims with consequence. Events have meaning, and that meaning touches us and compels us to read on, absorbed in the story. We give up on stories in which everything is reduced to triviality or unimportance.
In contemporary westerns, for example, there are a lot of violent deaths, but they lack consequence, and all that killing is less affecting to a reader. He scarcely cares. But if that character is a fully depicted person, with his own nature, with kinfolk such widows and orphans, siblings and parents, who would grieve him, with a history that explains his conduct, with ideals and dreams and hopes, then his death has great consequence.
A lot of violent killing of inconsequential people doesn't substitute for a drama that builds steadily as someone who is fully-fleshed faces death. In Shane scarcely anyone dies, and yet it is a thousandfold more dramatic than today's high-body-count western stories because it is entirely consequential.
Erotic westerns such as the Longarm or Jake Logan series fall into the same trap. There is a lot of sex but it is without consequence, trivial and boring. Here are some the consequences you don't find in these stories: no one gets pregnant or wonders whether she wants the child, or whether she should ask the father to marry her. No one gets diseased. No one gets envious or possessive. No one falls in love. No one becomes bitter or angry. No one has regrets. No one feels disappointed; the encounter didn't go well. Because the eroticism has no consequence, it is trivialized, and has little impact. It is throwaway literature intended for curious teen boys.
Powerful, compelling fiction is always consequential. Look for the authors who infuse their stories with meaning and consequence, and you will greatly increase your pleasure and satisfaction.
In contemporary westerns, for example, there are a lot of violent deaths, but they lack consequence, and all that killing is less affecting to a reader. He scarcely cares. But if that character is a fully depicted person, with his own nature, with kinfolk such widows and orphans, siblings and parents, who would grieve him, with a history that explains his conduct, with ideals and dreams and hopes, then his death has great consequence.
A lot of violent killing of inconsequential people doesn't substitute for a drama that builds steadily as someone who is fully-fleshed faces death. In Shane scarcely anyone dies, and yet it is a thousandfold more dramatic than today's high-body-count western stories because it is entirely consequential.
Erotic westerns such as the Longarm or Jake Logan series fall into the same trap. There is a lot of sex but it is without consequence, trivial and boring. Here are some the consequences you don't find in these stories: no one gets pregnant or wonders whether she wants the child, or whether she should ask the father to marry her. No one gets diseased. No one gets envious or possessive. No one falls in love. No one becomes bitter or angry. No one has regrets. No one feels disappointed; the encounter didn't go well. Because the eroticism has no consequence, it is trivialized, and has little impact. It is throwaway literature intended for curious teen boys.
Powerful, compelling fiction is always consequential. Look for the authors who infuse their stories with meaning and consequence, and you will greatly increase your pleasure and satisfaction.
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