Then I picked up Joan Aiken's The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, and read how heroines Sylvia and Bonnie discover a secret passage in the stately mansion where they live. Exploring, they find themselves behind the room in which wicked Miss Slighcarp is busy destroying documents and arranging for herself to become mistress of Willoughby Chase. What's more, she's discussing the plot out loud with her accomplice!
My edition notes that Joan Aiken wrote TWoWC as a spoof of Victorian Gothic adventures, so I'm sure she was more than aware of what a ridiculously convenient plot twist this was. But here's the thing. It works. We're in a world where wolves run wild and greedy governesses plot death and thievery. We're as far from Chekovian delicacy as you can get and what a young reader wants is for the story to keep moving. With Slighcarp's plot revealed, the girls have to take action! The book keeps moving.
It was an inspiration and I soon had the solution to my problem. It's improbable, yes, but not impossible. It gives my young heroines all the information they need to know to start the second half of the book rolling. And if I've written it right the reader's first reaction will be to turn the page. To find out what happens next...
-------------------------------
3 comments:
Great! It's so satisfying when you realise how easily things can be resolved if you put yourself in the place of the reader. Must try and remind myself of that more often...
It's a frequent problem with me,Ann. I can't count the number of times I've wrestled and wrestled with a plot point, only to find it solved when I stop to think that the reader would/might be expecting.
Being a grown up has its disadvantages when plotting gothic twists. I wrote an MG fantasy once and got tied up in knots with trying to make a demon queen probable. Spoofing would have been so much more fun! Ta so much for the tip!
Post a Comment