Reading for Plot

If like me, you’re hardwired for suspense/thriller stories, then you want to know what happens next. Sure you care about the main characters. Will she live or die? Will the boy marry the girl? But that first time around, we’re focused on the monster. How are they going to kill that thing?

Plot-driven fiction concentrates on the action, usually because the action is bigger than life. But all stories have action. All stories have plot. The difference when you read a plot-driven story is your satisfaction comes primarily from the action of the story rather than the changes the characters may undertake during the action.

In suspense/thriller genre fiction, the story opens with something bad happening but the reader isn’t clued in yet as to what the terror is. As the story continues and more bad things happen to good people, the reader realizes who or what the monster is. The characters in the story figure out who the monster is usually about one-third of the way through the novel. Once they know who is doing it, they go about the business of killing the beast. This journey or quest leads to a climactic battle in which the forces of good triumph over evil in the traditional suspense/thriller.

In more recent stories, the “monster” turns out to be not so bad after all. So the author lets the vampire off the hook in Twilight and the space monster gets his space ship back and leaves the earth unharmed in the film Super8. The real "monster" in Super8 isn't the monster at all. It's the air force officer who abuses the monster. But the space monster ends up killing his share of good guys as well as the evil air force officer.

This shift away from good versus evil reflects today’s culture where morality has degenerated into a philosophy based on “it’s all good.” In traditional storytelling, it ain’t "all good." There are good guys and bad guys. The main character’s job is to stop the bad guy. While it's important to understand we are all capable of good and evil actions, suspense/thriller stories work best when the forces of good battle the forces of evil with a clear victory for good. Otherwise the quest fails. Keep in mind suspense/thriller stories are bigger than life with no need to muck around in the depths of sloppy morality.

Read it again, Sam
One of the joys of the second time reading an action-driven story is discovering the characters. For example, in my novel Fulfillment, which is about God versus Satan, Mary starts out as an innocent, fearful young teenage girl. By story’s end, she is a strong woman who protects her infant son from the vilest of evils. In my soon to be released novel, Faerie Tale, an ex-con who has been beaten down by life after a wrongful conviction, grows into the strong, forceful personality well able to take on demonic forces. So just to contradict myself a little bit, mucking around in the depths of sloppy morality can add to the character development in a suspense/thriller story, but the author should tell this story from a moral base firmly rooted in good triumphs over evil.

To learn more about my novel Fulfillment, click here for Amazon or click here for paperback.

Here’s another novel idea…
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New Series: How to Read Suspense

I'm launching a new series of short videos and follow-up commentary for readers of suspense or thriller stories.

Is this you?
You find a book you like. You read it. You enjoy it. You put it on a shelf, toss it, give it away, return it to the library or wrap the fish in it, but your rarely read the novel more than once. Why not? You can learn a lot by reading a novel for the second or third time. For example, you enjoyed the book so much, you couldn't put it down. Ever wonder how the author kept your attention?

Starting with plot and character
The first topic in my series on reading suspense fiction is character-driven fiction versus plot-driven fiction. What's the difference? Why should you care as a reader? Enjoy the video and comment below.

Teen Angst

His eyes slid down the front of her dress and laughed at her knock knees. Then catching himself in the cold stare of her eyes, he said, “I’ve seen that dress somewhere before.”

Caught off guard, she laughed. “You knucklehead, you’ve been going to Saint Philomena’s for eight years. Of course you’ve seen my outfit before. And it’s a jumper, not a dress.”

“Told you I saw it before. But you didn’t wear it like that in first grade.”

“And you didn’t look at me like that in first grade, Billy Branmower.”

“Where’d those little bumps there in front come from?”

Later, after picking himself off the floor of the middle school hallway, he figured he wouldn’t try that last line when he got to ninth grade.

Locked Out of the Car

There they are. Yep. Right there on the seat where I dropped them.

Again.

Okay, don’t panic. Call the wife.

Cell phone.

Well, looky here. Right next to the keys. On seat. The other side of the lock.

Pay phone.

Oh, yeah.

They landfilled them all.

Hello! Hey, lady, can I… Lady. Hey. Yeah. You. Can you help me. No. No. I’m not a pervert. I just want your cell phone. What? No, I don’t think it would fit and ladies shouldn’t talk like that.

Cold. Yep, there’s the coat. On the seat. The one next to the seat with the keys and the cell phone.

Wish that lady would have called a cop.

Store can help. No. Too late. All closed.

Cops patrol. Where’s a donut shop when you need one?

Check Out the Review of My Novel Fulfillment

Annie Parks wrote a terrific review of Fulfillment. Check it out by clicking here. Annie is a great young writer, so I appreciate her insights. Fulfillment is available on Amazon by clicking here.

As a reminder, here is a blurb about the book: Mary lived in happy ignorance. Then in the roar of the beast and the hideous faces of the angry demons scampering across her bedroom floor, she became the central figure in a drama beyond her understanding. Her engagement to Joseph should have been joyful, but instead the secret concerning the baby in her womb attracted evil spirits, a king, soldiers and a would-be lover all bent on destroying her. Mary’s journey, while steeped with betrayal and the foul stench of the ultimate demon, is a setup for an even bigger story. She discovers a lost love found, the promise of a newborn king, and a wealth of new friends from a dwarf with the heart of a warrior to the young mother whose husband and children are murdered in a bloody massacre.

Vampires on the Moon

“Take a deep breath. Okay, now swallow. Notice the difference?”
“Uhmm, we’re back in the caves?”
“Notice the sweet taste? It’s not there topside when we breathe from the air tanks.”
“Being the new guy, you probably don’t know that Matilda Langingfroth makes huge volumes of fudge for the black market.”
“It’s not chocolate you smell.”
“Oh crap. What is it? No, don’t tell me.”
“Vampires.”
“You’ve got to be kidding, right?”
“And you thought the moon was safe? I thought I was the new guy.”
“I didn’t know vampires smelled of chocolate.”
“Only on the moon. Something about the lack of oxygen. Vampires don’t need air, so they muck about over on the dark side. But the lack of oxygen affects their body chemistry. Comes out smelling like chocolate. That’s how you can tell if one is wandering about your human caves to feed.”
“Is that important?”
“It is if you smell chocolate, like now.”
“Why?”
“Vampires. Think about it.”

It Pays to Post

My post to my new writer's group blog was picked up by Everything Speculative Fiction. Check it out. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of page to find me and then click over to The Missing Dhwarven Phaser. In a post today, Karen Smith provides information on a short story contest.