fun all the way
Dec. 28th, 2009 11:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliThere are some writers who write excellent first halves of books.
The problem is that they throw all this wonderful, whimsical stuff in the first half, and then in the second, they have to resolve the plot, so they stop throwing wonderful, whimsical stuff at you and so the story stops being fun.
The real problem is, you really do have to reach some kind of resolution so merely going on throwing stuff about doesn't fulfill the purposes of the story. It can be hard to juggle an interesting setting and the plot -- but I've noticed the problem seems the worst in books that stay in one place. Much maligned though the quest is, it, or any kind of journey, gives your characters excuse to keep on moving to new neat stuff while you are pulling together the plot.
The problem is that they throw all this wonderful, whimsical stuff in the first half, and then in the second, they have to resolve the plot, so they stop throwing wonderful, whimsical stuff at you and so the story stops being fun.
The real problem is, you really do have to reach some kind of resolution so merely going on throwing stuff about doesn't fulfill the purposes of the story. It can be hard to juggle an interesting setting and the plot -- but I've noticed the problem seems the worst in books that stay in one place. Much maligned though the quest is, it, or any kind of journey, gives your characters excuse to keep on moving to new neat stuff while you are pulling together the plot.