If you ever write a book, don't do this:
Make your character do something stupid just to ratchet up the tension.
Your readers who are NOT idiots will be very annoyed and know you did it just to drag the story out.
Your readers will think that you suck.
I will give your book the stink eye.
You have been warned.
P.S. Same rule goes for movies. Let me repeat: I'm not dumb. Neither are my friends. I can't speak for the general public. But they're lining up for Fast and Furious Part 17, anyway. Make something for the rest of us, 'kay?
P.P.S. State of Play was a really smart thriller. Check it out.
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14 comments:
I so agree. And the person that does something stupid - usually a woman. Drives me nuts.
I totally agree. I had to stop watching 24 in the middle of season 2 because Kim was acting like a complete idiot!
They have totally made something for the rest of us! Saw 9!
Hey, that's not the scene you had to add because certain someones said your character needed to be more relatable or something?. . .
Why can't it be the idiot guy dumbing the book/movie down for us, hm? Hm?!
(Thank you for the opportunity to flex my quasi-feminism.)
As I have no idea what you're all talking about, I'm going to assume you're talking about me. And I'm sorry to have disappointed you all. I don't know why I do dumb things for no reason. Yes, I enjoy a little narrative tension as much as the next gal, but is that any reason to, just as a random example, mouth off to a guy the size of a Humvee at Sam's Club and then make my husband defuse the situation? No, it's totally not.
You mean plot twists like where the President of the United States fires her chief of staff for supposed wrongdoing, hires on her wayward daughter, DOESN'T bring the ex-chief-of-staff back on board when his name is cleared, and the wayward daughter proceeds to commit all sorts of crimes against the State just because she has PMS? (Or were you not talking about the writers of "24"?)
I liked State of Play, too, even if I couldn't quite get on board with the glorification of newspapers as an inherently more noble form of mass communication, nor admire Russel Crowe's girlish bob.
Crap. I need to go rewrite chapter seventeen now . . .
I can't stand stupid characters. I hear you.
So what book was it?
I totally hear ya. But I can't make any promises. Usually I am the dumb guy doing the dumb things and learning the dumb lessons.
I hate predictable. Really hate it.
I have nothing to say. I'm just laughing!
Um yeah. Don't do that. . .unless it's a biography and it's a real life thing. . .
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