So I've been thinking...
About the MacGuffin thing. In the comments section of my previous post, my friend Erica said:
In a book, I would feel betrayed. Of course it's all in the exectuion, but depending on how big a plot point it is, if I got to page 300 and the author never clued me in, I don't think I'd be happy.
And in an email, my friend Lainey said:
I'm left wondering about that damn tape!
So I've been thinking, maybe this MacGuffin thing isn't such a great idea in a book after all.
When the book gets published, do I really want 500,000 emails saying What about that damn tape?!
Well, yeah, 500,000 emails would be awesome regardless of what they said. BUT, I definitely don't want my readers to feel betrayed, so I've decided to add some dialogue that will wrap up the loose MacGuffin ends. It'll take about five minutes, and that little problem will be solved.
Thanks to Erica and Lainey for catching me in time.
We hear a lot about how we should strive to make our books cinematic in nature, but it's always good to be reminded that what works in one medium might fail miserably in another.
In a book, I would feel betrayed. Of course it's all in the exectuion, but depending on how big a plot point it is, if I got to page 300 and the author never clued me in, I don't think I'd be happy.
And in an email, my friend Lainey said:
I'm left wondering about that damn tape!
So I've been thinking, maybe this MacGuffin thing isn't such a great idea in a book after all.
When the book gets published, do I really want 500,000 emails saying What about that damn tape?!
Well, yeah, 500,000 emails would be awesome regardless of what they said. BUT, I definitely don't want my readers to feel betrayed, so I've decided to add some dialogue that will wrap up the loose MacGuffin ends. It'll take about five minutes, and that little problem will be solved.
Thanks to Erica and Lainey for catching me in time.
We hear a lot about how we should strive to make our books cinematic in nature, but it's always good to be reminded that what works in one medium might fail miserably in another.
posted by Jude Hardin | 5:39 PM
4 Comments:
Wishing you 500,000 emails. In the nicest possible way, of course.
(brief fan-girl squee: OMG I got mentioned on a serious, agented-author's blog)
'K, I'm all over myself now.
I'm now wondering, if you plan to make Colt a series like all the good fictional dicks (that's not to say for one minute I think YOU'RE a dick...ya know, the guys who WRITE fic/dicks) =) maybe you could leave a trail at the end of book one...like an 'as soon as XYZ was settled, I planned to get to the bottom of that damn tape!'
Just a thought.
Thanks, Lainey. If I ever get 500,000 emails, I promise to buy you...a house.
;)
Jude, be careful what you promise....
Of course I meant a Barbie playhouse, Dave. You know, just in case Lainey gets 500,000 of her friends together to bombard my inbox. ;)
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