The Dark One
Auror
Hi Marie - I'm not sure whether you were responding to my post or just to the thread generally. In any case, nothing you've said conflicts with my point that the central driving force for any narrative is the reader's curiosity to go further and find out what's happening/what will happen. There are a million ways of doing this. In the book I've just finished and sent to my agent, I attempt to arouse the curiosity of the reader in several different ways - including the MC's breathtaking arrogance. I guess this is something I'm rationalising in hindsight rather than something I deliberately set out to achieve, but guinea pig readers have told me they were immediately mesmerised by the MC's obnoxiousness and wanting to know from page one how he was going to get his comeuppance.
In my recently published book (which I won't name so that no-one can accuse me of spamming) the reader understands from the start that something strange is happening just beneath the surface of a seemingly ordinary world and (hopefully) wants to get to grips with what is going on. In fact, the narrative driver in that story is the vague suspicion that many have that there really are shadowy types lurking in the background, secretly pulling the strings that control not just the world but the entire universe. My story leaps aboard that pony and rides it down very strange paths indeed, with the implication being that any of us might one day shake our heads clear of all our petty hopes, fears and obsessions and take notice of what really matters. The universe sends subtle signals out all the time but we are so busy getting on with life in the C21 Machine that we rarely notice, and if we do, we are too busy with other priorities to do anything about it. My main character (as the reader desperately wants him to) does something about it - thus the reader gets to go vicariously on the strange journey that s/he would never choose in real life.
To get back to the main point - inspire curiosity and really deliver on the answers - that's my basic formula for keeping the pages turning (both for reader and writer).
In my recently published book (which I won't name so that no-one can accuse me of spamming) the reader understands from the start that something strange is happening just beneath the surface of a seemingly ordinary world and (hopefully) wants to get to grips with what is going on. In fact, the narrative driver in that story is the vague suspicion that many have that there really are shadowy types lurking in the background, secretly pulling the strings that control not just the world but the entire universe. My story leaps aboard that pony and rides it down very strange paths indeed, with the implication being that any of us might one day shake our heads clear of all our petty hopes, fears and obsessions and take notice of what really matters. The universe sends subtle signals out all the time but we are so busy getting on with life in the C21 Machine that we rarely notice, and if we do, we are too busy with other priorities to do anything about it. My main character (as the reader desperately wants him to) does something about it - thus the reader gets to go vicariously on the strange journey that s/he would never choose in real life.
To get back to the main point - inspire curiosity and really deliver on the answers - that's my basic formula for keeping the pages turning (both for reader and writer).