Wednesday 11 July 2012

Like it or not, I do what I want


I'm talking about my novel. When I told my friend about my original concept for the thriller, she screamed, 'No, you can't do that. I hate it! It's like having a character wake up from a dream!'
If there's one rule, then it is to not mess with a reader, if they feel cheated, they will be unhappy. 
To be honest, I can't remember the exact plans I had, but I'm sure it involved my character writing a book in which she basically tortured and killed off the characters, and in the end, she'd put the pen down and smile. I found it rather suitable, since it's basically what I'm doing and the characters won't suffer any less. Just that it's a book in a book. I had a really good brain storming session with someone yesterday, who wasn't sure about the idea either. Yet, the more I think about it, the more I love it. And the way I'm doing it, means the reader knows exactly what's going on, like in Inception, which was a massive hit. If well done, the reader will quickly be in the story and only be reminded at the very end.


When my friend rejected my concept, it shot a massive hole in my creativity and I couldn't write for weeks. Things like that, you know? My problem was how to integrate the first character, which is the real heroine, but takes a backseat after the prologue and doesn't appear anymore until the very end. I have thought back and forth and whatnot to find a solution to that problem, but to no avail. I can be stubborn as mule when it comes to concepts and plotting. Once I fall in love with something, it's hard to convince me otherwise. The fact that I struggled so much means I had doubts, but not anymore. I like breaking the rules. If someone says you can't do that, I'm all the more determined to do it, but to do it effectively.

I want that the reader is sucked into the story and forget that it's just a book in the book, and feels for the three MCs who'll go through hell and never come back. Since it's my revenge on my former neighbours, I can't save any of them. Normally you'd have the good win over the bad in a thriller, wouldn't you? Which means, they would need to survive, maybe be better people after that experience. But I don't want that. I want them dead! Oh, nasty me. I want that Karma hits them hard, which, in that novel, it does. I'll also leave the ending open and a bit mysterious, so the reader can decide if it really happened or not.

After breaking through that beast of a brick wall, I'm much  more confident finishing the novel until the 31st of July. 15k to go and that hopefully all guns blazing.

Wish me luck. :-)

4 comments:

  1. Good for you. Wish I could do the same.

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  2. never listen to any critic/friend/reviewer..........except for me of course.

    ReplyDelete