Don't give that character any POV?
Then he might be a bit of a dick.
Doesn't that mean it's a nice way of getting across a character, if that's the intent.
I'm fine with flashback backstory weaved in well. It can really give aha moments to me as a reader. Laini Taylor does it really well in her Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy (YA fantasy). Maggie O'Farrell frequently switches timelines and always does it really well.Dreams, but what about flashbacks? I have only four flashbacks in my story, all are within the first forty pages to "show" the backstory (why the MC's are together and in love, why he was sent away etc.). I had started my story with these events, but everyone said they didn't work as an opening, so I get my MC on the boat, where we get hints at as to why he is there during his boarding and induction, then the flashbacks later on weaved in-between the action and cliffhangers. Everyone says it now works.
I just watched the Glass Union, the sequel to Knives Out, and there was the one big flashback that threw me at first, but made sense.
No quotation marks: I read the Lincoln highway and it threw me off at first. I just read James Joyce's Portrait of an Artist as a Young man (to get ready for our trip to Ireland in April) and he didn't use quotation marks.
Now I'm worried about timelines. I go back and forth between my two MC's, to show cliffhangers etc. If I did ten chapters with one MC, then ten chapters with the other, it wouldn't be as dramatic and cliffhang. So far, everyone who has read the entire manuscript, has said it works for them.
Which gets to Agent Pete's point, if it works, it works.
I find if I spend too long with one timeline, I tend to lose track of what was going on in the other(s). Not so bad with 2, but any more gets tricky.
Then we dont want to be in that characters head.
We're talking about what readers want here. Essentially I think we have to keep in mind reading takes place in an entirely different part of the brain than writing. Reading is basically Avatar. We become that character. I really don't want to become a psychopath or creep.
What readers want and what readers might say they want are not necessarily the same thing. Consider the Da Vinci Code, one of the better selling books of the last 20 years. Chock full of sexist asshats. Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones, etc: just about every second character is a psychopath. 2666, The Road, etc. These works are populated by creeps, and sold a lot, and had critics slobbering. Obviously, readers want more than horrible people in the books they read, but just as obviously, they devour the worst of us, as well.
As long as they get their comeuppance. We like a terrible baddie, but keep turning pages for the moment the baddie gets his just desserts. A fan like Jones is my life goal. game of jones youtube
It was a rule in Hollywood under the Hays Code.
I get you on the timeline issue. Have also started my WIP with intermittent flashbacks to weave in backstory, and I think overall it works. Now struggling with the progression of time throughout the story...Dreams, but what about flashbacks? I have only four flashbacks in my story, all are within the first forty pages to "show" the backstory (why the MC's are together and in love, why he was sent away etc.). I had started my story with these events, but everyone said they didn't work as an opening, so I get my MC on the boat, where we get hints at as to why he is there during his boarding and induction, then the flashbacks later on weaved in-between the action and cliffhangers. Everyone says it now works.
I just watched the Glass Union, the sequel to Knives Out, and there was the one big flashback that threw me at first, but made sense.
No quotation marks: I read the Lincoln highway and it threw me off at first. I just read James Joyce's Portrait of an Artist as a Young man (to get ready for our trip to Ireland in April) and he didn't use quotation marks.
Now I'm worried about timelines. I go back and forth between my two MC's, to show cliffhangers etc. If I did ten chapters with one MC, then ten chapters with the other, it wouldn't be as dramatic and cliffhang. So far, everyone who has read the entire manuscript, has said it works for them.
I think a lot of the things mentioned here can be acceptable in the context of 'if it works, it works'. Personally the one show-stopper for me is a sentimental world view.
It was mostly not to make a life of crime look good, but I think Aristotle would have agreed with the Hays Code. Greek Drama's purpose was religious enlightenment. The thing I've noticed about rules is very often they result in even greater creativity. One example being Casa Blanca. The Hays Code meant Rick and Ilsa couldnt end up together. The ending is much more memorable because they don't.
Wait, are you suggesting we kill them?
Only with kindness and cuddles. And probably sweeties.
POV character may be a human, known for their obsessions...
So true. And the witch trials of the Dark Ages produced geat literature. I am an American, so our history of racism, slavery, and bigotry surely produced great literature, as well as free labor, bacon, and our educational system.
Bacon? Surely bacon precedes Liberty? I will say our educational system was much better pre baby boomers. My grandmother's tests and notes for 8th grade graduation would probably stump many with a 4 year college degree today.
If it's written well, sometimes I do. And I don't always want to see him/her get caught in the end either. For me it's all about the story. If it's a great story well told then I'm along for the ride. I don't need a happy ending, I need to be engaged and entertained.
I think you might hate my book then. Although I kind of think my ending is hopeful... but I don't write typical happy endings.
