Juliet Marillier
Jan. 28th, 2006 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranMy reading today was the first two chapters of _Child of the Prophecy_, book 3 of the Sevenwaters Trilogy. Not usually the sort of thing I read, but instructive none the less.
The first chapter was a good example of how to get away with the biggest opening cliché going around, short of the protagonist's village being burnt by raiders and their parents and family killed. It works, I think, because the plot, and the clichés are only ever in the background. There's always something bright and burning to look at - the characters, the images, the narrator's voice. No scene is ever just about the plot.
The author also has a nice way of introducing the characters first, before explaining their plot significance. This helps, firstly to make the characters seem less two dimensional, and also to give the later plot developments. I was already starting to care about the characters before things started to happen to them, so that when things did happen to them, it had much more impact.
In terms of building empathy with the characters, it's also interesting to note the way the author draws her readers in alongside the characters, not just in terms in viewpoint, but also in motivation. As the story unfolds, you generally know what the character wants in each scene, and you can see them try to get it. There's enough time for you to get inside the loop, as it were, and to wonder how you would solve the problem. There are some instances too where information about the characters is withheld and it's a bit of a game for the reader to guess it.
The author's strong voice helps here as well. You really feel like this is a story told by an actual person, coloured by an actual person's concerns.
The first chapter was a good example of how to get away with the biggest opening cliché going around, short of the protagonist's village being burnt by raiders and their parents and family killed. It works, I think, because the plot, and the clichés are only ever in the background. There's always something bright and burning to look at - the characters, the images, the narrator's voice. No scene is ever just about the plot.
The author also has a nice way of introducing the characters first, before explaining their plot significance. This helps, firstly to make the characters seem less two dimensional, and also to give the later plot developments. I was already starting to care about the characters before things started to happen to them, so that when things did happen to them, it had much more impact.
In terms of building empathy with the characters, it's also interesting to note the way the author draws her readers in alongside the characters, not just in terms in viewpoint, but also in motivation. As the story unfolds, you generally know what the character wants in each scene, and you can see them try to get it. There's enough time for you to get inside the loop, as it were, and to wonder how you would solve the problem. There are some instances too where information about the characters is withheld and it's a bit of a game for the reader to guess it.
The author's strong voice helps here as well. You really feel like this is a story told by an actual person, coloured by an actual person's concerns.
