Props--deliberate or accident?

[triceretops]

In 2075 the UPS are the cops. Their job is to destroy the written word and punish anyone reading. (Kinda Farenheit 451, only postal)

The UPS cops wail the day lights out of a crowd of people with batons. In the confusion, the cops drops items and lose pieces of uniform and such. One loses a badge, and the protagonist finds it after the cops have left. He hides it.

That is a prop that is found by accident in my book. (and this prop will be used later in the plot)

Would it be better that the protagonist grapples with the cop and deliberately snatches the badge from his chest without the cop knowing it, thus there is real thinking, planning and motivation by the main character?

I think I goofed. Nothing is really supposed to happen by accident in a good story, wot? That includes even little props?

Triceratops

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

I don't think there's any prohibition on accidental events in the plot. The advice I keep hearing is simply that the author shouldn't include events by accident. Everything that you include needs to be your deliberate decision. One of those things may be a lost badge. Does that make sense?

I don't have a lot of publication creds to back up my opinion, but I don't see anything wrong with your plot hinging on a lost badge being found by your protagonist, as long as you've set things up so that the loss is believable. I mean, would the UPS-cops really be that careless as to lose their badges, and if so, how long would it take them to realize the loss and come back looking for it? If they did, and didn't find it, what action would they take?

[CindyBidar]

I think it depends on the motivations of the character who finds the badge. Would he be more likely to plan and execute something like this, or just take advantage of a situation he finds himself in?

[Virtuoso]

Nothing is really supposed to happen by accident in a good story, wot?

No. But it's not your protagonist who's God--it's you; omnsicience and omnipotence, in a story, are the qualities of only the writer. To characters, accidents may happen, so long as they work together for the good of your plot.

[dblteam]

In large part, I think it will depend on how important that badge is to the plot. If it's a major driver of the story's events, then a reader might feel cheated that the guy just happened to find it, and just happened to squirrel it away and, oh look! it's exactly what the good guys need to defeat the evil postal service! That smacks of author convenience rather than logical plot evolution.

On the other hand, people sometimes do simply stumble upon things, and the ability to turn the situation to their advantage is considered an admirable trait. So it might say a lot about your character if he's the kind of person who notices little things and keeps them, figuring they might be useful one day.

Don't know if that helped any, but there you go.

Valerie

BTW, I'm really curious. What led to the disarming of the police and various state/federal agencies (military/FBI/Park Rangers/Tobacco and Firearms/etc), and the arming of postal workers? Feel free to email me if you don't want to discuss on the board.

[triceretops]

I don't mind

The written word is outlawed in the future because of a monumental discovery: Super Conductivity-which the United Western Enterprise (America) harbors as the greatest break-through discovery of the century. It is so vital to the defense department that UWE shuts downs its borders, isolating itself from the rest of the world. To prevent against agents and espionage (sp) The United States Postal service becomes the most powerful authority in the Western hemisphere (riding herd over all other agencies) and it is their task to obliterate the written word--no books--records--or any written documention. In place the populace has to learn a new visual language and it's color (flash) reading. In conjunction with numerals, color flash is adequate to run the government, businesses, and all other communication. Humanity does not know how to read, it is a forgotton skill. Culture, associated with literature is also absent. Hence a very futuristic but odd society.

It's the hero's job to find out if there is any trace of that forgotton past, and he begins to find clues, that was indeed letters, sentences, paragraphs which were all put into books--which taught, entertained, and even provided moral direction (which this present society is certainly lacking). Humanity feels a void in their life--they are stressed out, they cannot speak properly, and a revolt is on the horizon. Automobiles buy their owners--adults are required to play with toys after work to relieve stress--They live in colored Zip codes that denote their status--to date each other they need certification. (Society is fast going to hell). Their life history is a bracelet on their wrist with a needle probe that fits into credit holes provided all over the nation.

Think of:
The burning of the Alexandria library.
The Time Machine where the Eloi had books but couldn't read
Farenheit 451 where books were outlawed

...and put them all together and that's Word Wars.

Triceratops

[MacAllister]

USPS is the United States Postal Service
UPS is the United Parcel Service--the folks in the brown trucks that schlepp boxes around for cheap.

(I sorta liked the idea of UPS as the future cops, private company, brownshirts, and all that...)

[Mistook]

If your protagonist is the only man in the world who could possibly exploit a lost badge to overthrow the tyranny, then it might be too much of a coincidence for him to find the only one ever dropped in a fight.

On the other hand, maybe badges are lost routinely in fights, but nobody thinks anything of it until your guy comes along.

[SRHowen]

Well, I find myself very often with characters finding, or doing or with "props" wiht no planning. I don't outline, but somewhere in my head I must know the character is going to use it later.

And if not--well, then you go back and get rid of it.

Either way, what's important? How the character got the prop, or the fact that they did get it?

As long as it fits into the story and isn't just a plot easy (something stuck in at the time it's needed) like finding out the main character had judo lessons in the last chapter of the book just so they can beat the bad guy--I think it would be fine either way.

Shawn

[triceretops]

Ooops. Thanks for the bandaid, Mac.

Mistook--yeah, big problem. If the (futuristic) Postal agency is so powerful, they would have safe-guards to recover a "code-entry" badge that gave the wearer access to the secret facility, and that's what's going to happen. As an ex fed, if a badge was lost we only noted the number for future reference and a little BOLO, incase the badge was recovered in a "impersonating an officer" sting. But in the future they'd probably have a satelite chip in dang thing and be able to triangulate it's location and the person who had it (or its hiding place)

I'm trying to puzzle that out now. Maybe he can remove the chip? Back to the concept, goes me!

Tri

[Denis Castellan]

2075 is not very far from now.

Of course, I don't know much of your story and what follows may or may not fit your plans, you decide.

Maybe your protag could help an old man (or woman) being chased by the cops. Cops could dislike old people : they have memories of "how it was before" and could be dangerous.

Your protag would certainly become an outlaw if he had been 'spotted' by a satellite, but he could get some help from the old person.
The Old man could own souvenirs from his parents, maybe things whose name and use he barely knows but that could turn out to be very helpful...
He could have some particular skills that he only used to "stay alive" but that your younger protag could use in a more active way, like entering a place without a badge, for example.

The idea I'm trying to give is that your protag could get what he needs as some kind of reward, and not by accident.

[Mistook]

Ooops. Thanks for the bandaid, Mac.

Mistook--yeah, big problem. If the (futuristic) Postal agency is so powerful, they would have safe-guards to recover a "code-entry" badge that gave the wearer access to the secret facility, and that's what's going to happen. As an ex fed, if a badge was lost we only noted the number for future reference and a little BOLO, incase the badge was recovered in a "impersonating an officer" sting. But in the future they'd probably have a satelite chip in dang thing and be able to triangulate it's location and the person who had it (or its hiding place)

I'm trying to puzzle that out now. Maybe he can remove the chip? Back to the concept, goes me!

Tri


That's a bit of a sticky wicket. If the badge itself can get you any kind of access, then like a credit card, the agency would probably cancel the number out of the system and forget about it.

Maybe he can somehow devise a way to make a duplicate of the magnetic strip or whatever that gives access. Then he turns it in to the lost and found, hopefully smart enough to give a fake name, or remain anonymous.

Then he has a valid access code, and nobody knows it.

------------

Either way, I love your idea for this story. Having the Post Office end up in charge really makes you stop and think. I like that idea of a totally benign government agency turning evil.

We must be on a similar wavelength, because several months ago I had the idea to incorporate a sub-plot into my WIP wherein the Library of Congress has legions of covert agents, (Who are headed by the Poet Laureate) out on the streets of America doing "investigations" of unknown artists - amassing huge case files that go into a central database. It's all part of their dedication to the concept of national creativity being a powerful resource, like oil.

The logic to justify the investigations is thus:

1) All copyrighted works default to Public Domain eventually.

2) All artists expressions are automatically copyrighted upon completion, without ever having to be registered.

3) The government has the duty to preserve all American works if possible, but if an unknown artist dies without having registered any of his works, they are lost to history.

4) The government has the right to gather art intelligence and hold it in a state of legal limbo until the copyright expires, wherin it is added to the wealth of the public doman.

The problem arises that one of the higher-ups starts selling database access to media outlets at a high premium. Media moguls are not allowed to steal the copyrighted works, but can use the database for "inspiration", because the ideas themselves are not protected by law.

Needless to say, the nation evolves into this place where all artists starve, while the media is getting rich on their inspirations - using models to personify fictional creatures cut from the cloth of the LCIA database.

Spoooooky!

[triceretops]

Denis--wow, how did you know the plot of my book? That's very perceptive. The protag does find a very old man (110 years old) out in the boonies who lives in an old log cabin and is surrounded by all these antiques. Old guy remembers the Old World and dug up some 3rd grade children's spellling books in a grave yard. Old man knows they mean something and believes it to be "real writing"

Old people are looked upon with suspicion and are always interogated.

Thanks, Mistook--yep, very similar story-line there. The deterioration of society is the theme and plot--very similar.

Tri.

[Mistook]

Thanks, Mistook--yep, very similar story-line there. The deterioration of society is the theme and plot--very similar.


So I don't quite understand why it is the Post Office who is in charge of stamping out the written word. Is it because written communication comes squarely under their auspices?

[triceretops]

Mistook

Yes, your last sentence spells it out totally. Communication and the written word is controled by the Postal Service, but I'm considering using a new organization that monitors written word damage control. Haven't thought of it yet.

Tri

[Jonathon Michaels]

Yes, your last sentence spells it out totally. Communication and the written word is controled by the Postal Service, but I'm considering using a new organization that monitors written word damage control. Haven't thought of it yet.

I like the idea of a new entity. If you use an agency that deals in written communication, wouldn't somebody at some point ask "What is this 'postal' thing they're talking about?" or something like that? If the goal was to completely eradicate written communication, I would think you wouldn't want a reference to it in the organization's title since it might raise suspicion.

I'd come up with something new myself, but that's just my $.02. :)

Jonathon

[triceretops]

Right John. I think I used the postal service because their history has been to deliver the mail, come sleet or snow. Now they're sent out there to take it away--collect it, wherever they find it. But it occurs to me that the postal employees have always been a friendly bunch, everybody loves the mailman, so I think a more sinister organization has to be in charge of this--something akin to a project bluebook type of disinformation "keep your mouth shut" group of thugs or they'll make you disapear. I think this has everything to do with first amendment rights so it looks like the FCC is the perfect future organization that might be given too much power, causing it to get out of hand. Since the idea is too keep the written word away from the public and squelch any signs of letters, sentences, anything written, I do believe now that the FCC "cops" might be the best choice.

Thanks all, for making me think about this! I would have really blundered had I gotten too far into the plot with something that might have to be radically changed. I'm still pondering this. FCC looks good, though!

Triceratops

[Anatole Ghio]

Having a plot point hinge upon chance or fate can be a strong choice as long as it fits within the thematic context of the story. Many of Shakespeare's plays depended upon the element of chance and it works within his mileau because he also presents a world where fate takes an active hand upon events.

However, if you are not deliberately using fate as a theme, it is a weak choice because it makes the character a passive participant.

Passive = weak.

Much stronger is a way which will somehow reveal something about your character, or is the result of a charcter choice.

Choice = strength.

- Anatole

[zornhau]

If the original badgeholder was one of a dozen cops hospitalised during a big riot, they might not check his badge was still on him for a few hours, or days.

As for the accident/design thing. I read somewhere that the best - as in most engaging - heroes don't volunteer for their heroics, but rather have heroics forced upon them by the situation and their morallity. If you believe that, then this badge could create the unexpected event which forces the hero into action.

[triceretops]

Thanks Zorn.

The badge that was lost is a "captains" badge. This big female captain is a brute and her underling officers are terified of her and will "NOT" report her even if they are certain (which they're not) she lost it in the fight. She, being a supervisor will naturally cover this up so as to save face from the chief. If any cop can burry a mistake like that, believe me (I've done seen it done) it's most certainly the ranking officer. Captains can manipulate inventory like you wouldn't believe--but secretly she'll know that her badge is out there somewhere with a security code on it. So she'll have to take clandestine steps to procure it back, or erase it completely and fudge another in its place. I think I'll have her track down my hero on her off time and be just one step and shadow behind him for a long time in the book--(tension-filled sub-plot). How's that sound?

Tri

[zornhau]

Sounds great. (I love the idea of a postal service as the villain - the number of hours I've wasted chasing up bits of misdelivered or misdirected armour is unbelievable!)

[fallenangelwriter]

I'm being summoned ot dinner, and haven't had a chance to read the thread since yesterday, but i've always thought accidents were all right at the beginning of a story.

one wqouldn't want the crucial plot twist that resolved a story to happen by accident, but the situation that begins the story can be an accident.

Good: hero accidentally intercepts a coded message; adventures ensue

Bad: after the hero sneaks into the evil overlords castle, an earthquake destroys it for no reason.

[Jonathon Michaels]

I think I'll have her track down my hero on her off time and be just one step and shadow behind him for a long time in the book--(tension-filled sub-plot). How's that sound?

I think it sounds good, myself. And yes, your statements about officials being in a position to cover up things is very true. I saw it often in the military. Usually on unimportant stuff, but easily works with other things too, contrary to what people might want to believe.

Also, I like the FCC angle. Especially in light of recent disagreements over their jurisdiction and power, that would be an excellent choice, I would think.

Jonathon

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

one wouldn't want the crucial plot twist that resolved a story to happen by accident...Would that be an "oops ex machina"?

[ducks for cover]

[Denis Castellan]

The badge that was lost is a "captains" badge. This big female captain is a brute and her underling officers are terified of her and will "NOT" report her even if they are certain (which they're not) she lost it in the fight. She, being a supervisor will naturally cover this up so as to save face from the chief.Knowing this, I wouldn't let her "lose" her badge. Instead I'd go for your protag pull it off her uniform. Snatching the thing that represents her powers off her uniform could somehow be seen like a "symbolic castration"... and maybe make the readers happy, if they already knew about the woman's behaviour/character...

[triceretops]

Denis

Actually the reader meets her for the first time--since she wails on my hero, for really no good reason but some physical excersise, I'm begining to think that my hero DID earn that badge by taking the beating. Then again, you're right in thinking that RIPPING the badge from her in a moment of distraction shows how clever and motivated my hero is--kind of something 007 would do in a pinch. I'll really puzzle this one out.

Everyone seems to think (so far) that the accidental discovery is okay. What bugs me is, some "how to" writing books that have told me "don't give the hero anything for free to help him solve problems--make him earn it--show that he is alive and thinking (on his feet) every minute that involves thrusting the plot forward. Have you heard of this? I do admit, this badge is a secondary prop only, it's vital but not the big problem solver.

Tri

[Denis Castellan]

Everyone seems to think (so far) that the accidental discovery is okay. What bugs me is, some "how to" writing books that have told me "don't give the hero anything for free to help him solve problems--make him earn it--show that he is alive and thinking (on his feet) every minute that involves thrusting the plot forward. Have you heard of this? I do admit, this badge is a secondary prop only, it's vital but not the big problem solver.

What "bothers" me is the graphic adventure game taste in the finding.
You know, "You find an Emerald Key" and later "There's a door with an Emerald Lock."

Since there's a fight, I like the ripping.
Maybe your protag just rips the badge off in a "without this badge you're nothing" way.
Maybe he just clings (?) to it in the fight and pulls it off accidentally.

It's just the "seeing it on the floor and taking it" that just seems too obvious to me, like "hey, look what the author just gave me !! A badge !!"

Still... I'm not a skilled writer in any way. This is just my opinion and suggestions, not an advice. If I'm the only one on that side, maybe I'm just wrong.

[Velleity]

What bugs me is, some "how to" writing books that have told me "don't give the hero anything for free to help him solve problems--make him earn it--show that he is alive and thinking (on his feet) every minute that involves thrusting the plot forward.

Like most writing advice, that's true -- except when it's not. It sounds like your story is insane enough (in a good way!) to support a lucky break or two.

What's your character capable of at that point in the story? Is he cunning enough to know what he needs and how to get it? Is he aggressive enough to rip that badge from the captain's chest? Or is he still kind of out of his element and in need of some good luck for a change?

If it bothers you, fix it. If you think it works, leave it and see if you're right. If you're still undecided, leave it be for now.

[tjwriter]

Perhaps you can combine the deliberate and accident aspects. As this seems to be a nice street riot, consider the following:

Your character is getting beaten by the burly woman. In the mess of people, another civilian or even a member of the cop squad bumps roughly into the woman, causing your character and the woman to fall off-balance. As they are going down into a tangled mess, your character reaches out and grabs hold of the badge in an attempt to keep balance. The badge rips off and since everyone is in a state on confusion, your burly woman does not notice right away.

With the way you described it, the burly woman would be severely ashamed of the fact that one of her men caused her to lose her badge.

The badge is not given to him by you nor is it fully intentional of him to take it. I know Denis mentioned something similar, which by the time I got to his post, I was thinking the same thing.

[zornhau]

bugs me is, some "how to" writing books that have told me "don't give the hero anything for free to help him solve problems--make him earn it--show that he


If the badge is a call to action, then in a sense it <i>is</> a problem, rather than a gift, like the droids and Luke in Starwars.

If he's already set on the revolutionary path, then, yes, it would be lame if the badge were to just dtop into his lap.

[triceretops]

Thanks, Tori. That sounds even better--a combo "accident, I'll take advantage of the accident" type response. In other words, he gets it indirectly, because he's directly involved.

In the fight she roughs him up pretty bad and he's flailing his hands toward her trying to ward off blows. The badge becomes unpinned and falls down. She's still wailing on him, knocking him to the pavement into a sitting position. When the cops are finished they leave in a sweaty huff. Moments later, the hero comes to his senses and finds he's sitting on the badge that she dropped--hense it wasn't seen. He recovers it, hides it on his person then splits fast, knowing that they could come back after they discover the loss.

Ah, that'll work!

Triceratops

[novelator]

Here's my two cents:

The hero finding the badge has already paid for the discovery via the beating. He may be an innocent, thrust into the middle of the fray between two equal but opposite forces--the revolutionaries and the word-cops--neither of whom is entirely right or wrong, both sides with their share of evil. Does he jeopardize his survival by turning against the government and joining up with the revolutionaries, at least one of whom should have a questionable motive, perhaps sanctioning complete annihilation of all wearing the uniform of the opposition(or something too extreme to be palatable to our hero). Or, does he turn in the badge, fall in line like a good soldier to save his skin and forsake his personal beliefs? Perhaps at this point, he's forced to come to terms with what he truly believes. (These are all just ideas here, and my opinions, nothing more.) He may be unaware at first, or it doesn't occur to him that he is being tracked until the first or second threat on his life induces him to run, but run where? Perhaps he comes under attack by both sides, but there is a way to shield the badge, and hence our hero's position, from the eyes in the sky (if I'm not mistaken, something like lead would do that, I believe), and perhaps he learns this from the old man on his run from both sides. Perhaps the old man knows of others, like himself, or the existence of a secret society, an underground that has bred the current band of revolutionaries, raised them, and maybe the leader with the questionable motives turns out to be the son or grandson of the old man, fostering even more ill will between the two who must fight on the same side to win.

The possibilities are endless.

Mari

[Writing Again]

A story starts when a significant change occurs in a character's life. Finding something, such as a soda bottle in "The Gods Must Be Crazy" or stumbling upon something by accident, such as a medallion or a book of magic, or even a creature such as "E.T." has a long and honorable tradition as being the catalyst in a character's life that invokes change.

If the badge thing happens in the first stage of the book and instigates the change then an accident is fine. If it happens later and furthers the action, say perhaps saving the character, then it must be something that is not fortuitous.

If it is an accident that does save the character then it should happen well before the event where it is needed, and in fact it would be best if it were to at first cause more problems than it was apparently worth.

So it is not so much a case of whether a fortuitous accident should occur, but when it might occur without seeming contrived.

[fallenangelwriter]

Saving a hero through a lucky break is suspect.

plunging the hero into trouble by chance is a fine start.

[triceretops]

The "God Must Be Crazy" one and two are among my favorites, and yes that starts off with an accidental discovery that mounts and compounds.

The big female cop captain discovers she's lost her badge when she arrives back at FCC headquarters. She knows she's blown it now. She goes to inventory and gets a "blank" badge and lasers her same ID number into it, and now she has to go out on her off time and recover a badge that's still in system (a hot badge) She figures she can recover it before its discovered lost by her chief. She goes to Survielance and digs up the recent cam recording of the fight and finds that the hero's face image is too obscure for a facial ident, so she has no address for this suspect, who she never identified in the first place (she just beat him). Her first goof.

This shows that not only is she brutal, but she's crooked AND a little stupid. She's going to have to "gum shoe" the hero. The hero will use this badge later to gain access right under her nose. (Heroe's girlfriend is a professional seamstress and fabricates an exact duplicate uniform to go along with the badge). Hero infiltrates FCC secure headquarters and finds that a central MANIAC server is giving orders to FCC, and probably has the "word" in it but he isn't sure. But he does discover that there's talk of a brand new breakthrough disovery--Anti-gravity-amplifiers(75 years prior it was super conductivity that was discovered). Now he knows WHY the FCC is coming down so hard on the populace--put them in their place--tighten the security grip--it's treason to have any writen, radio, satalite form of communication device because the bad nations are sending in droves of spies to find out why the United Western Enterprize doesn't need oil anymore--why their technology is so superior, why they've closed down all borders--why they even shot their old satelites out of the sky--why they'll obliterate any unidentified aircraft over their air space, so on. The UWE (U.S.) are total isolationists and energy self-sufficiant. This pisses off the entire world--jealousy breeds contempt. Hense, the whole nation has been taught to "color read" which is another code the antagonist nation's can't break. The mighty Eastern Allegience hasn't even got the technology to declare was on us and they know it. They can't even get through the borders to grab a hostage and torture the truth out of a UWE person, because the people don't have any technical knowledge of how these these discoveries work, nor do they know how to write anyway. (The security of Area 51 comes to mind only double-fold).

Like Escape From New York, "once you go into the UWE you don't come out."
There's tons more that lead up to the end but the result will be the hero discovers the real "word" and forms an underground of writers and readers who just love this new recreactional form--it reduces stress--their children can curl up with a book and discover "imagination" for the first time in their lives. Society begins to get happy, relieved and now, for the first time have hope in their lives by expressing themselves. The government knows it can't stop this revolution no matter how much they try and squash this underground, or execute its citizens. Eventually security will be breached, so our hero proposes at the first world summit (ever) to break down the borders, let the people read and write and share the two most miraculous discoveries with the rest of the world for the betterment of ALL mankind. World wide peace at last.

Somethng like that...

Triceratops

[Denis Castellan]

Saving a hero through a lucky break is suspect.
plunging the hero into trouble by chance is a fine start.
Two bad guys drive towards the good guy. The good guy shoots the driver dead with his last bullet. The car hits a brick wall. The other bad guy, shocked, gets out of the burning car and slowly comes for the unarmed good guy. Seconds later, the bad guy grins and aims at the good guy. Suddenly...

- a beaver-eaten tree falls down on the bad guy. - accidental, but bad.

- the car explodes. Surprised, the bad guy turns around and gets a projectile (a brick from the wall, a wheel, whatever...) right in the middle of his forehead. - accidental, but better; it fits logically in the sequence of events.

I guess the hero has to be lucky from time to time, else he'd probably die long before the end of the story.

[triceretops]

I'm still cracking up over what denis said, "Oh, look what the author gave me, a badge!" There are so many forms of "author intrusion" this is just one them, where the writer feels sorry for their own hero and kinda-sorta slips him a little advantage on the side, a sneaky gift. Whoa..that slays me. If you do that, you better fore-shadow or set it up, or it comes off cheap. Example:

Can you remember in CONAN THE BARBARIAN where Conan has the major battle and must fight agains many? He's knocked to the ground and the bad guy raises his sword, but just then his spirit girl friend comes back (looking like something out of Vall Hala) and whacks old bad guy, saving Conan? Now, I had a terrible time with that scene until I watched the movie a second time and discovered she'd actually told Conan that she'd come back from all the gates of hell or whatever to fight at his side. And Conan, just before that big fight asks Crom for help, and if he doesn't get it, "ta hell with you then."

Now, if I hadn't seen that fore-shadowing, I would have thought, "LOOK WHAT THE AUTHOR JUST GAVE HIM. AN ANGEL! BAH!

This example is a major, major plot turn. Just in writing, if you are going to have a miraculous savior, or gadget, plant knowledge of it a couple of times in the begining of the script and make sure the reader can "red flag" it in memory. "So that's what that thing was for!"

In my case, the badge doesn't need a prior plant because it's so early in the script--just a little info dump later to explain how powerful the badge is.
Explaining the power of the badge before the fight draws too much attention to it, so the reader might be able to guess "Well, hell, he red-flagged that badge so I know what's coming next." I call this leading the witness, or dragging the reader around by the nose and "pointing." Readers do really well at trying to figure things out--people love puzzels--sometimes less is more, until you lose the reader completely and that happens sometimes. Like James McDonal says, '"everything's got to be in balance."

Triceratops

[Denis Castellan]

I'm still cracking up over what denis said, "Oh, look what the author gave me, a badge!" There are so many forms of "author intrusion"...I've been thinking about that, and it could actually litterally be done (and maybe already has) depending on the genre you're writing in...

Billy-Bob was stuck in a pit and he could see no way of climbing out. Still, he checked his pocket.
- Huh? What pocket ?
He checked the right pocket of his jacket.
- Don't have no poc... Hey! A rope! I got a rope with a hook in my pocket! Thank you so much!
You're welcome. He swung the hook and threw it...

I never read anything like this, but I guess somebody has already done it somewhere... :)

[Writing Again]

Edgar Rice Borroughs started by writing cliff hangers, short stories continued from one issue to the next. Having proven himself he was given the assignment without proof he had worked his way through the story.

So sometimes he had his hero trapped in an impossible to get out of situation and had exactly one week, when the next installment ran to figure out how to get the hero out of that dilemma and into another one.

[katiemac]

I've been thinking about that, and it could actually litterally be done (and maybe already has) depending on the genre you're writing in...

Billy-Bob was stuck in a pit and he could see no way of climbing out. Still, he checked his pocket.
- Huh? What pocket ?
He checked the right pocket of his jacket.
- Don't have no poc... Hey! A rope! I got a rope with a hook in my pocket! Thank you so much!
You're welcome. He swung the hook and threw it...

I never read anything like this, but I guess somebody has already done it somewhere... :)

What's also really tacky is when your character just happens to take that rope along with him.
"Hey! I magically knew I would fall into this pit... good thing I brought mah rope!"