I have recently become a Twitter aficionado. Not only does it help feed my need for bite-size information, but it is a very efficient way to encounter publishing information I wouldn't find otherwise. My Friday Fave link today came from a tweet mentioning a blog I hadn't heard of before (Murderati), although I have read posts on other blogs from this author, Alex Sokoloff.
Ms. Sokoloff gives a lot of great information about writing, and she usually references it to movies, which makes it a lot easier to grasp concepts. In this particular post, The Central Action of a Story, she mentions how she does a "read-and-discard" to find a book she wants to finish reading. f she likes the first couple of chapters, she needs to know where the plot is going if she's going to keep reading.
She says, "So much of storytelling is about you, the author, reassuring your reader or audience that you know what you’re doing, so they can relax and let you drive."
This requires a certain amount of trust between the author and the reader. If it's an author I've read before, we've already established a relationship of sorts, so there's a fairly high amount of trust involved. This means I can lean the seat back, and probably even unbuckle the seat belt, knowing we'll get where we're supposed to, and I'll be happy with her driving skills along the way.
With an author that I'm reading for the first time, it's a bit like taking a ride with someone who's just gotten their learner's permit. I'm debating if I really want to do this, nervously trying to figure out whether to take that leap of faith. I typically make up my mind after reading the back cover, the first line, and maybe even the first couple of pages. Even after going through this pre-drive checklist, I've still been disappointed on occasion, but so far there haven't been any fiery crashes, although a wheel has flown off once in a while.
Still, the author is promising a certain kind of story in those first few chapters, and the reader has certain expectations, which hopefully are going to be met during what is essentially a cross-country road trip.
How often have you seen this movie blurb: "Joe Schmo is a car thief/cat burglar/petty shoplifter who is ready to retire, but he is pulled into ONE. LAST. SCORE."
Yeah, it's been done about a zillion times, but you never hear anybody say, "I've already seen that. I don't want to see it again." Moviegoers like that scenario, so you'll see it get made a zillion times more.
There is a certain expectation of where that plot will go, based on implicit promises made at the beginning, even if the viewer can't predict what will happen during the heist. But if all of a sudden zombies jumped out and devoured the protagonist's brains while he's cracking open a safe. . . well, the writer has pretty much lost their driving license, right?
Whenever I read a review of a book that has gotten a low ranking, it's generally because the reader feels it didn't live up to their expectations. This could be because of misleading back cover copy, or from a plot thread that was left dangling, or even unexplored. Readers like to be surprised, but not in a way that makes them feel foolish, or angry, for agreeing to let you drive them around in circles without a map for hours on end.
I highly recommend you read Ms. Sokoloff's entire post. She has really great information on having a PLAN that readers can, and will, follow during your thrilling car race of a story.
Next thing you know, you'll be on readers' auto-buy list.
Gee, Donnaroo, I sorta liked the idea of zombies jumping out of nowhere and finishing his last job...
Maybe he can keep going, as a ZOMBIE!
But I know, I'm twisted and tend to find the strange twists a story can take as interesting. When it's done well and if I picked up that book, I'd like some warning that this last job was going to detour into some major strange and unusual territory.
I won a copy of Ms. Sokoloff's book from SavvyAuthors. Hope she remembers to bring it to Nationals for me...
I do think genre expectations can be tricky when the author has so little control over how something is marketed. I wrote a blog about that once... ;-)
Posted by: Maureen | June 25, 2010 at 10:54 AM
LOL, Maureen, I think it would be cool if zombies jump out. . .but as long as there's some WARNING, as you said. Otherwise, it feels like trickery or gimmicky (is that the right word? LOL) I like surprises and twists too -- as long as they fit the world of the story.
That's awesome about you winning her book! I've always enjoyed the advice she gives, so I'm sure it'll be a good read.
Posted by: Donna Cummings | June 25, 2010 at 11:25 AM