It's like when you were a teenager, and your parents told you "no" to a party or something else you wanted to do. And you threw a fit, and in your epic teenager way screamed, "I hate you!"
But you didn't, really.
Because they were your parents, and you loved them, and they (hopefully) knew best. Even if you didn't like their decision, they were being parents and just doing their job.
So back to authors:
I just finished the audiobook of The Knife of Never Letting Go, and I really fake-hate Patrick Ness for doing his job.
There were a couple times writing the book (one, especially) where he must've approached a metaphorical crossroads. Two choices. One was the right choice for the story, but it risked his readers hating him and/or turning against his main character. The other option was safe, but wrong for the book, wrong for the character's journey. The weaker, more cowardly choice.
Both times, he made the right decision. As a reader, they were wide-eyed, heart-clutching, gasping "Oh nooooo he didn't" moments, and my insides were screaming "Undo it! Undo it!" (a la Spike in the Buffy Thanksgiving episode that is my favorite).
As a writer, I wished I wore a hat so I could tip it to him, because I was all internally nodding like, "Yes, good sir, that was what needed to happen." (I also wish I were British, because that deserves an accent.)
It reminded me how much I love unpredictable authors.
In their books, no one is safe. Happy endings aren't guaranteed, and there's a good chance a book will break your heart, even if it cobbles the pieces back together.
I like to call this The Joss Whedon Effect because he excels at not giving characters happy endings or teasing them with their every heart's desire before tearing it away (ahem, the "I Will Remember You" episode of Angel). Life can be unfair to good people, and good people can make terrible, terrible choices (and suffer the consequences), and he represents both in his TV shows. If you're lucky, his characters get a happy-ish ending that's entirely different from what you hoped for. But it's totally right, because what happiness he gives them, they've earned.
So this is my love letter to authors behaving bravely.
PS - I hate you.
UGH. Loved this book. And hated what he made Todd go through, but loved it more. The worst part was not having The Ask and the Answer handy when I got to the end. OH THE TORTURE.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to join in hat tippage. I'm down!
(Thanks for sharing...)
Jessica
I know! I'll be starting the rest of the trilogy soon... more torment ahead!
DeleteOh yes, me too. I still haven't read the next book and partly I'm scared to because of the emotional turmoil it's going to put me through...
DeleteI'm actually taking a break and reading CINDER and SCARLET (the first two books of The Lunar Chronicles)... then back to Chaos Walking!
DeleteI never thought about it quite like that, but you're right! I felt that way about every book in the Chaos Walking series, but it made me love them all the more because they're AMAZING. The easy choices would have taken away the story's power.
ReplyDeleteTo be vague and nonspoilery for others: With the first book, I was actually most impressed when Todd did that terrible thing that made me yell "Stop! What the hell are you doing?!" than that other devastating thing that made me cry. Because it's brave to risk your readers turning on your main character.
DeleteI have not read this book- but from your post I'm interested. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend the audiobook! There's a ton of dialect in the novel, and the audio narrator did a FANTASTIC job.
DeleteI love those "oh no he didn't" moves. This sounds like a really interesting book. I'm going to have to get a hold of a copy of it soon :)
ReplyDeleteIt's very addictive! As I mentioned above, I highly encourage the audiobook.
DeleteMost recently I fake-hated Larry McMurtry for all the terrible characters he was able to portray so well in Lonesome Dove. The whole time I was reading I was like, "ENOUGH with this character already! He's so selfish/idiotic/dim-witted that he needs to DIE!"
ReplyDeleteMan, I love it when authors get us to fake-hate them.
It's so much fun! A standout moment of author fake-hate for me is actually the end of Gone With the Wind. Darn that Margaret Mitchell.
DeleteI still need to read this book! It's been on my reading list for way too long. I had some of those "No!" moments reading The Book Thief.
ReplyDeleteThis reminded me that I really do need to read The Book Thief!
Delete