On Thin Lines and Reader Engagement

[rolanni]

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. . .

Comments

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

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.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

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.

Bonding

[od-mind.livejournal.com]

"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.

[laurahcory1.livejournal.com]

Joss Whedon is particularly guilty of this

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

[redpimpernel.livejournal.com]

Joss Whedon is particularly guilty of this

I'm still crushed by the loss of Wash.

Even if you don't approve of fanfic

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

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. . .