: Re: Duping the reader? My goal is to introduce the reader to a â€˜wonderfulâ€™ fantasy world with an underdog main character full of panacheâ€¦and delve into the constraints and debilitations of living

Your concern is warranted. Readers don't like to be duped. Period. Even mysteries and whodunnits have to "make sense"; otherwise it doesn't encourage anyone to read it.

In general, it doesn't matter how clever you are, abrupt, jarring changes turn off the reader.

Now, foreshadowing a revelation or creating a dramatic niche for a "big twist" works for most authors. But the background needs to be there. We need to care about the character either through direct action or understood deeds before we care about his social class.

It's hard for us to care about your character if we don't have a sense of "what's really going on" right from the start.

Doing what you suggest is like pulling the rug out from your readers. Do you have a good enough reason to do it?

Load Full (0)

: Use of past and present tense in same novel The author of a current historical novel uses past tense in most of its 38 chapters, and present tense in five or six. The novel is a New York

@Turnbaugh521

Load Full 2 Comments

: A general principle of citation is: only cite what you actually used. You haven't seen the original work, so don't cite it based on someone else's quote. What if the quote you're working

@Turnbaugh521

Load Full 0 Comments

: Memoir on a coveted experience, has no conflict! What should i do? I am writing about my experience at place X-- a place that is coveted by many people, a dream come true of sorts! Problem

@Turnbaugh521

Load Full 3 Comments

: Are significant edits made to books first published in the USA, for the UK market? An answer on sci-fi, "What passages were removed or changed from the North American version of His Dark Materials?"

: Re: Duping the reader? My goal is to introduce the reader to a â€˜wonderfulâ€™ fantasy world with an underdog main character full of panacheâ€¦and delve into the constraints and debilitations of living

More posts by @Turnbaugh521

: Use of past and present tense in same novel The author of a current historical novel uses past tense in most of its 38 chapters, and present tense in five or six. The novel is a New York

: A general principle of citation is: only cite what you actually used. You haven't seen the original work, so don't cite it based on someone else's quote. What if the quote you're working

: Memoir on a coveted experience, has no conflict! What should i do? I am writing about my experience at place X-- a place that is coveted by many people, a dream come true of sorts! Problem

: Are significant edits made to books first published in the USA, for the UK market? An answer on sci-fi, "What passages were removed or changed from the North American version of His Dark Materials?"

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top