Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 1185700" data-attributes="member: 5171">I disagree with 3, 4, 5, and possibly 6.3) In a novel, the goal is to give the APPEARANCE of uncertainty, but most novelists, barring those doing experimental random storytelling, know who is going to win.  Most readers know that the hero is gonna be victorious.  It's just a matter of how.  I don't consider that true uncertainty.4) Many novels have the goal of passing an idea to the readers -- the reader gains a new perspective or worldview, and the author does not LOSE this perspective when the reader gains it.  If you say "tangible only", that's fine, though.5) Most of the novel takes place within arbitrary rules, but most novelists break at least some of their rules at the end through handwaving.  At the end, "True Love" is able to overpower the magic that existed by hard and fast rules through most of the story.  Perhaps the handwaving means that the rules are still in place, but I don't think that the creation of the rules overcomes the fundamental fact that the spirit of the rules for most of the novel has been effectively broken.  The big twist on the major magical spell, the effect that nobody knew would happen -- it's almost always explained, but it almost always breaks the rules as we initially understand them.  And in most cases, it does that in order to create more of a sense of wonder.6) Possibly, many novels have that goal of passing ideas to readers -- moral, sociological, or psychological ideas.  As an author, I want people to read my book and come away with a new thought, a new idea, something that maybe makes them stop and think before doing something dumb in real life a week later.  While the story itself is fiction, the moral or ethical idea is intended to cross the fiction/real-world boundaries.</blockquote>

Verification