I’m interested in getting your thoughts about stuff I see and hear, quotes I read, stuff that passes as knowledge – and starting an authorey conversation.
This gives you permission to not say everything in chapter one, and to remember to sprinkle in a few surprises along the way.
Dan Alatorre 
I love this idea… and as I’m writing mine.. . The surprised sometimes surprise me too!
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Reminds me of a fav. I tripped across long ago (source lost), “A well decorated room fascinates slowly.” Same idea.
xx,
mgh
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That’s interesting. Yeah, I could see that. Cool!
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True, and a challenge to have the right balance.
I tried to work out a theme in one book where there were covert actions being carried out by various factions and every spoke in allusions to previous conversations and actions of which the reader was not told…as yet
Guess what?
I forgot what I was actually writing about and who was who! š So none of it would tie together! š«
The only one who could get away with that was Raymond Chandler in ‘The Big Sleep’. Apparently he admitted he’d never figured out all of who had done what, where and when- but he had style!
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That is too funny
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A John La Carre I am not!
What’s worse I’m starting to drift that way again….No wonder I can’t get Volume Two of my trilogy started…Oh woe!
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That is so true. A good book gives a little at a time so that you just can’t stop reading until you have it all figured out.
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Yep. And it forces you to keep reading!
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The best books are the ones that keep us guessing, like REBECCA by Daphne Du Maurier with weird twisted endings we would never have figured out!
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I love stuff like that
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I agree. A great story unfolds like the petals of a flower, keeps us intrigued until the end when we stand back and go wow.
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Well put!
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How could it? Readers should discover the “secrets” at the same time the characters do. Give them the vicarious experience.
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Good point.
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But sometimes it’s more fun when the reader knows before the character discovers it; you know, when we’re leaning over the page whispering, “”C’mon, man! Can’t you see that ! ” and waiting intently for him to “get it” ! Then, when he finally does get it, we give a sigh of relief, and move to how does he wrap up this problem??
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I am a fan of dramatic irony!
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I say Stephen’s the man, so It’s a yes for me. š
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Gives you a reason to turn the next page.. wait for the sequel and possibly inspire the reader to put pen to paper themselves
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