Have you read something like...

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WriterTrek

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The 'have you read a story like this?' thread.

No idea where this thread should go, by the way, so feel free to put it wherever. My hope is that people other than just me will find it useful.

As a relatively new author I often find myself taking inspiration from things I've read. I find it useful to look at how books I liked are structured and planned out. I.e. if I want to write a specific type of story I'll often go back and read a lot of other books that are of similar types to what I want.

For example, when I wanted to write a mystery short story a while back I re-read a lot of short stories involving Hercule Poirot (since that was more the style I wanted rather than Sherlock Holmes). The result wasn't similar in the least (it starred two boys in magic-land getting involved in a robbery by accident), but paying attention to the structure and progression that Agatha Christie used helped when I was writing. Since I was introducing a magic system and alternate history world I also read several fantasy short stories to see how they handled that in a short format.

But sometimes I want suggestions a little more specific. Often TVTropes can help -- if you can identify the trope you like and want to use (or invert, or whatever) you can check out the references on its page. But it doesn't always give you a good list, and the lists it does give you aren't always accurate.

So... that was a long thread introduction. Sorry about that. But I'm hoping that some of you will also be looking for specific types of books and want to use it as well.

Types of books I'm looking for:

[1] Novel or Novella under 50k words long, preferably 30-35k, that has really good character progression for two characters (preferably non-romance, preferably shown from both POVs) who go from antagonistic to friendly. Standalone. Preferably will also have an actual plot.

I can rattle off numerous longer works that manage that but I haven't personally seen it done well in a short format.

[2] Standalone story of approx 15k-100k involving a heist. I've read surprisingly few standalone stories where the focus is "let's steal something."

Most "thief" related stories that I've run into don't tend to focus on this aspect.

Anyone read something that fits the requirements for either of those?

Anyone else looking for a very specific "kind" of story to read? If so, what is it? Maybe someone here has an idea.
 

Marian Perera

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Standalone story of approx 15k-100k involving a heist. I've read surprisingly few standalone stories where the focus is "let's steal something."

One of Dean Koontz's earlier novels (probably out of print now) features a professional thief. Unfortunately I don't remember the title of this. I just remember how he avoids detection when he's trapped in a mall at night and the police have the place surrounded and searched.
 

cornflake

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[2] Standalone story of approx 15k-100k involving a heist. I've read surprisingly few standalone stories where the focus is "let's steal something."

Hmm. The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (or however that's punctuated), Quick Change (I love Quick Change, though it's sort of more the getaway from the heist than the heist, but the heist is central), The Getaway (well... ),
 

Vito

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I'm not sure about the word count for any of these, but I know they're all "heist" novels:

Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan. I liked this book a lot although I still haven't got around to watching the movie adaptation, "The Town", starring Ben Affleck.

Swag by Elmore Leonard. It's about two armed robbers in 1970s Detroit. It's been a long time since I read it but I remember giving it a "thumbs up."

Cops and Robbers by Donald E. Westlake, about two New York City cops...and their heist! Also, Westlake's The Hot Rock is about a heist at the Brooklyn Museum. It's not a standalone and I haven't read it, but I really enjoyed the movie version.
 

Buffysquirrel

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[1] Novel or Novella under 50k words long, preferably 30-35k, that has really good character progression for two characters (preferably non-romance, preferably shown from both POVs) who go from antagonistic to friendly. Standalone. Preferably will also have an actual plot.

Enemy Mine, by Barry Longyear? I haven't read it, I confess, but it seems to fall into the area you want.
 

Cornelius Gault

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[re: Theft]
Check out The Italian Job. It had a good plot and suspense.

BTW: I find it useful to check out the Gutenburg Project, Google Books and ScribD for actual texts of actual books (sometimes older or public domain books). Also search Google for "TEXT OF bookname". You can see the formatting, chapter formats, table of contents use, justification, font sizes, pictures, use of prologues and epilogues, etc. Read as much as you want to get your ideas. In most cases, there are parts missing here and there, but you can use it to get a good idea of the plot points, etc.
 

gothicangel

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[2] Standalone story of approx 15k-100k involving a heist. I've read surprisingly few standalone stories where the focus is "let's steal something."

Most "thief" related stories that I've run into don't tend to focus on this aspect.

Ian Rankin's Doors Open, which is a stand alone about an art heist in Edinburgh. I believe it is his bestselling book to date, so there must be a market for it. :)
 

WriterTrek

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Great suggestions guys. Sorry I didn't say so before, but I was hoping some other folks might want to use the thread for a similar purpose.

I did want to post again to say that I picked up about half of the suggestions above, and so far I'm having quite a good time.

Thanks again!
 
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