- Joined
- Sep 17, 2019
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- 583
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- #1
You know what I fucking hate in books and stories? When the plot reveals or commences one of the largest plot hooks in the entire story in the middle of the book.
It's what ruined "Chronicles of the Black Company" for me, an otherwise very great and fantastic fantasy story about a band of mercenaries being hired by a member of an elite court of very powerful wizards. A major plot point through the entire thing was that the protagonist was always hearing about, and going to meet an incredibly powerful wizard monarch (and technically the villain, but not the antagonist) known as "The Lady", who was basically the driving force behind all the conflict in the book. This was constantly reminded of to the reader, and it really built up this grandiose mystery because what the Lady exactly was was never really elaborated to the reader, nor the true extent of her power. But then, a little after the mid point of the book, the protagonist just ups and waltzes into her presence. Ya, the plot surrounding the war she was waging and the elite group of stupid-fuck-off powerful wizards she was leading hadn't resolved yet, but she was the driving force behind everything and they just reveal her as if the book was nearing a close. It wasn't even meant to be a grand moment, it's simply the protagonist getting his wish granted of meeting The Lady. Hell, even the fact that she wasn't really all that impressive in writing upon meeting her isn't the issue. It's that she just showed up and had such a minor part for her first real appearance (she did show up earlier in the story, but as an apparition or projected form, and only very briefly and not to the character directly.
I feel if you're holding a huge plot hook over a reader, you shouldn't be resolving it until the very final climax of the story. Unless you're ready to present something even bigger, but then you risk breaking theme and jumping the shark, so it's hard to do well.
Rant over. Post stories or books you have read that do this, revealing and ending huge plot hooks that were driving you through the story. It's infuriating because the Black Company was going to be up there as one of my favorite books but the engine leading the train decided to fucking go out before it reached the end.
It's what ruined "Chronicles of the Black Company" for me, an otherwise very great and fantastic fantasy story about a band of mercenaries being hired by a member of an elite court of very powerful wizards. A major plot point through the entire thing was that the protagonist was always hearing about, and going to meet an incredibly powerful wizard monarch (and technically the villain, but not the antagonist) known as "The Lady", who was basically the driving force behind all the conflict in the book. This was constantly reminded of to the reader, and it really built up this grandiose mystery because what the Lady exactly was was never really elaborated to the reader, nor the true extent of her power. But then, a little after the mid point of the book, the protagonist just ups and waltzes into her presence. Ya, the plot surrounding the war she was waging and the elite group of stupid-fuck-off powerful wizards she was leading hadn't resolved yet, but she was the driving force behind everything and they just reveal her as if the book was nearing a close. It wasn't even meant to be a grand moment, it's simply the protagonist getting his wish granted of meeting The Lady. Hell, even the fact that she wasn't really all that impressive in writing upon meeting her isn't the issue. It's that she just showed up and had such a minor part for her first real appearance (she did show up earlier in the story, but as an apparition or projected form, and only very briefly and not to the character directly.
I feel if you're holding a huge plot hook over a reader, you shouldn't be resolving it until the very final climax of the story. Unless you're ready to present something even bigger, but then you risk breaking theme and jumping the shark, so it's hard to do well.
Rant over. Post stories or books you have read that do this, revealing and ending huge plot hooks that were driving you through the story. It's infuriating because the Black Company was going to be up there as one of my favorite books but the engine leading the train decided to fucking go out before it reached the end.