Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Quotes of the day

Quotes by Colin Greenland:
 
Plotting is like sex. Plotting is about desire and satisfaction, anticipation and release. You have to arouse your reader's desire to know what happens, to unravel the mystery, to see good triumph. You have to sustain it, keep it warm, feed it, just a little bit, not too much at a time, as your story goes on. That's called suspense. It can bring desire to a frenzy, in which case you are in a good position to bring off a wonderful climax.
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Plotting isn't like sex, because you can go back and adjust it afterwards. Whether you plan your story beforehand or not, if the climax turns out to be the revelation that the mad professor's anti-gravity device actually works, you must go back and silently delete all those flying cars buzzing around the city on page one. If you want to reveal something, you need to hide it properly first.
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So, what do you think? (Smiles)

2 comments:

  1. I never thought of plotting like sex. I like your take on it better.

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  2. I love this analogy! Hah...I know, the whole sex thing is thought-provoking but I think it gives a clear view of what we as writers want to stimulate in our readers.

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