To keep your writing interesting, don't always give the reader what they expect. For example: An apple a day keeps the lawyer away. - or - She was quiet as a chipmunk.
Defying the reader's expectations will keep them intrigued... as long as it's done in moderation. The most adept author I can think of in this regard is Terry Pratchett. He has a way of describing Discworld in general, and Ankh-Morpork in particular, that turns people's expectations of a world upside down and inside out.
At the same time, as bizarre as some of the descriptions of Discworld are, Pratchett conveys that - to the characters of his books - these are simply the normal state of things. A world balanced on four elephants and a giant turtle? Sure, why not? In The Color of Magic, he even has a team of scientists examining the phenomenon, which lends it credibility.
Change the descriptions in the writing prompts below until you get something more interesting...
No comments:
Post a Comment