Notes from Maine - 2021/01/03

We watched The Fellowship of the Ring last night. My nephew had never seen it. When it came out, I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie. I loved it so much as a book, and I already knew all the big plot points they were going to cover. The movie didn’t have any tension for me because I knew that all the main characters were going to be fine. Gandalf is dragged down into Shadow by the Balrog, which made my nephew sit up straight, but I remember him from later in the plot so I know he survives.

But was he fine?

That was the question I asked myself last night.

In the context of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, life is usually on the line. Some characters live and some die. If someone makes it through a scene, they brush off any damage and move on. Little attention is given to the aftermath of trauma. The hobbits were allowed five seconds to grieve after Gandalf was taken, and then they had to move on. 

It felt like the audience was expected to do the same.

In Hunting Tree, I killed a main character before the final battle. I wanted to drive home the point that anyone in the story could die at any time. I’m not sure how well that technique worked. I don’t think it raised the stakes at all. The people left behind had no choice other than to keep fighting for their own lives. They wouldn’t get a chance to mourn until long after the book was over. The reader might have been shocked for a moment, but then you have to turn the page. More action is coming. 

Anne Tyler books sometimes revolve around a death, but it usually happens before page one. We only see the aftershock and coping. Characters are changed by the death. They learn to live again. That story is more important than the loss they suffered.

In one of my books, I attempted to show the same life in three different ways. I put a character into three different periods and very different places and considered how the person would react to those forces. It was an ambitious undertaking. Some people really enjoyed the book, others hated it. I love it when a book gets a wide range of reviews. 

I’m making that book (Skillful Death) free for the next few days. If you haven’t already read it, I hope you’ll give it a shot. It has some characters in common with my latest, Incarnation. If you haven’t picked up a copy of Incarnation, I hope you’ll consider purchasing that one as well. 

I hope your New Year is going well so far!