My post at Novel Spaces is still up today, but is the second post down from the top now. It's about "Surprise" in writing. If you haven't visited yet, perhaps you will today.
I haven't forgotten my giveaway. I promise. Someone will win a free copy of Strange Worlds. Soon. I've just been swamped with things coming up.
Thanks to all for reading.
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Thanks to ypou for writing. Btw, how i understand now some things. I'm abut to finish the correction of a collection of sword & sorcery short stories to various publishers (crossing fingers).
ReplyDeleteAnd , well, i understand very well now how hard is to get out of the keyboard stuff that can be read.
Anyway, hope your books are doing great. After all the work i imagine better now, is the minimum deserved ;)
Deka, thanks. I appreciate that. You know when you try to write how difficult it is. But also how rewarding.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is! Is a bit like having a son.
ReplyDeleteOK
ReplyDeleteWarm Aloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral
> < } } ( ° >
Deka, amen.
ReplyDeleteCloudia, thankee.
Charles, I agree with your three conclusions, though, personally I've always associated "surprise" with horror-fantasy-thriller writing and, to a considerable extent, crime-fiction, but seldom in any other genre. I guess you can't pull of a "surprise" on your readers if you're not very convincing about it. I mean you'd have to be really good at it to keep the reader engrossed till the end. Over the years I've come to expect an element of "surprise" from certain authors and it's always there, waiting to spring up on me.
ReplyDeleteI left a more literary comment on NS. Here, I'm thinking warfare. Shiloh, Cedar Creek, Bentonville -- initial surprises shifting into entropy & Clauswitzian "friction."
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's revenge for surprise attacks that did succeed.
Prashant, I think the difference is often in the size of the surprise. Fantasy and horror tend to have bigger surprises but I think surprise is in everything that is good writing.
ReplyDeleteErik, an excellent example and use of surprise for sure.
Good advice over at Novel Spaces. For some reason, my mind was wondering if Newt's "Moon Colony" was going to give a boost to Sci-Fi writers.
ReplyDeleteSage, I don't know. I'm not sure it's a practical goal but I do like when politicians talk about space exploration again.
ReplyDeleteI left a comment over at Novel Spaces but as a P.S. wanted to add that it's a real important part of storytelling. Gets back, maybe, to our discussion of predictability vs the unexpected.
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