rolanni | On Thin Lines and Reader Engagement

I just gave up on the book I was reading less than a hundred pages from the end. This is not necessarily the book's fault; it could well be that this week I'm too worn out to tolerate a lot of horror in my fantasy, and the set-up for the Thrilling Conclusion is looking to include two -- possibly four -- Terrible Deaths that I just don't want to see.

Hmm...She can probably get away with the two deaths; I'm thinking the kids may live, with "only" a Tragic Loss to sober them. But it doesn't really matter; those two other characters are certainly going to die, and badly, and -- no. Just. No.

These deaths probably wouldn't be so much of a problem for me as a reader if I'd managed to bond with the Leads -- which I haven't done. I like them better than I did at first, but I'm not. . .compelled by their lives. This lack of bonding where I ought directly led me to inappropriately bond with Doomed Characters, and now I'm paying the price. And, since I'm certain that Our Heroes are Perfectly Capable of dispatching the broken godling eventually, once they achieve the correct brainstorm and/or Clue, I don't even feel compelled to keep reading to learn How it All Comes Out.

Sigh, sigh.

I've read another book by this author, which I liked perfectly well, but then, I bonded with the Leads, as I was supposed to have done. Still, in that book, and moreso in this one, I find that she has a tendency to telegraph her moves 'way, 'way out. The first book, I thought it was just the Writer Brain, but this one convinces me that, no; she plots so strongly that the bones show through. That's kind of too bad, because she has some nifty ideas and a good sense of what makes a good twist, but she needs to learn a little more about hiding the evidence.

. . .which she may have done by the third book, but. . .I'm not at the moment inclined to pick up the third book. Readers are so fickle, no wonder writers go gray so young. . .

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well you let us know the book? I have read most of the same books on your list and enjoyed most of them.

The Sleeping God

It's nice to know that I'm not the only person who hates it when you know how the story is going to end three chapters in. Also, I feel that if an author kills a character, it should be because the character did something stupid,or because the character is trying to save someone else. If a character was murdered, there needs to be a damn compelling reason for the murder.

Also, I feel that if an author kills a character, it should be because the character did something stupid,or because the character is trying to save someone else. If a character was murdered, there needs to be a damn compelling reason for the murder.

There are reasons to kill characters that are Just and Reasonable. Indeed, in this book that I've set aside, several people have died to illustrate Just What We're Up Against -- and that's Perfectly Valid; the reader must know what the stakes are, or the narrative lacks power.

Murder mysteries struggle with the question of the worth of human life almost exclusively -- again, Perfectly Valid. We should ask ourselves now and then what is more precious than a man's life.

What I object to is the tendency of some authors to deliberately set up a likable and sympathetic secondary character to die only for the shock value. (In the world of visual media, Joss Whedon is particularly guilty of this, and there are a couple of writers I could name, but won't for the sake of Peace Within the Clan.)

Mind you, I'm not saying that these (probable) deaths that I'm objecting to are that sort of deliberate toying with the reader's emotions -- from my sampling of her work, this writer hasn't seemed to me to be malicious. And it is very much worth bearing in mind that, in this case, I bestowed my affections foolishly. Had I indeed bonded with the Leads, I might not have found these other deaths so distressing.

"I bestowed my affections foolishly"... hrm. Perhaps. Methinks, though, that where one bestows one's affections in a work of fiction is supposed to be up to the writer.

If I bond with the wrong character, it's either because the writer goofed in describing (or designing) the characters, or (more common of late) that the writer is Not Writing For Me, and wants readers to bond with some loathesome excuse for a person for no reason I can fathom.

Joss Whedon is particularly guilty of this

Serenity movie, I'm looking at YOU...

Joss Whedon is particularly guilty of this

I'm still crushed by the loss of Wash.

There is a perfectly wonderful piece which is set immediately after the movie.

The bad guys had slipped in a clone and thats who died. . .

Find and follow advice of a good PT first and before any surgery! Pain can be eliminated even with a torn miniscus - this is experience speaking!

I never used to do that. Fortunately I've learned better over time.

The death of a character, even a villain can be distressing even if it makes sense from the point of view of the story. If you could see it coming that far ahead it probably didn't make sense.

These days senseless death, especially those done on stage by the mad, sadistic bastard of a villain, just to show what a SOB the villain is a sure turn off. I can cope a little better with it off stage in small doses.

This by the way is why the true crime tales of serial killers have no interest for me.

Often the death of a likable character can move the story along. In your own work, for instance, the death of the young child protege of Pat Rin was an important turning point. It wasn't easy to read, or I'm sure, write. But it wasn't senseless in terms of the plot.

It is painful to read/see the death of a character, especially one central to a story. I cried my eyes out when reading of DUMBLEDORE'S death. in book 6 of the Harry Potter series. It was a necessary death, but still I felt I had lost a well known, well beloved friend!
Agree with you about Wash's death! The one thing I resent in the movie. The other deaths I could understand and accept; the cruelty of the government etal strongly reinforced. But, did the crew need additional motivation?

Speaking about knowing the end of a story 3 to 4 chapters out from the ending, it seems more and more commonplace. Lately in detective books, movies, I've been able to ID the guilty party well before the end. I guess schools are not really teaching how to build stories/scripts any longer.

I remember being traumatized by the death in the Black Cauldron. Mind you, I was - eh - 9? 10? (but the book was geared to that age...) Looking back on it, it was necessary for the plot and it taught a valuable lesson in redemption. It stands out to me as an archetype now. However, the character's actions turned him into someone I desperately wanted to bond with and it Was Too Late. waaaah.

Did Mr. Alexander telegraph his intentions? Maybe to an older, wiser reader --- but the kid was caught open-mouthed and heart-struck. There's only been one instance I've read since then (as an adult) that caught me the exact same way. It seems to me as a reader that the shock value is as much a part of the lesson as the actual 'death.'
Lauretta@ConstellationBooks

PS I missed Wash in Serenity too, but I was also reeling from the Shepherd's demise. I'll watch those actors in anything they care to work on/in. They are GREAT.

I get annoyed by highly predictable plots as well, though I find that in general, after reading several books by an author I can predict pretty well where they'll be going with a given storyline. That doesn't bother me, since if I've read enough of someone's books that I can predict what's next, it means I like their style of writing. It's still nice to get surprised on occasion.
For character deaths, I tend to require that the death have some impact on the story, and not be simply gratuitous, or a way of ridding yourself of a character who you're tired of writing about. I stopped reading Raymond Feist because I got tired of watching him kill off characters simple because he seemed to have decided he was done with them.

On Thin Lines and Reader Engagement

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Bonding

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Even if you don't approve of fanfic

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Abandoning a book

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The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander

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