Interesting. The reason I don't like the Chtorr books, and gave up on them somewhere in mid-series (something I very seldom do unless I'm *really* bored) is that they just *kept* getting worse and worse with not only no solutions, but no respite. Unrelieved suffering over really extended periods of time gets as boring as unrelieved victory over really extended periods of time, IMO, and a lot more depressing. Sure you need conflict, but you need to give your reader some glimpse of a possible reprieve or else they just wonder why you are putting them through this.
One of the best-constucted movies I've ever seen was a little unknown Richad Dreyfus film called Let it Ride. It managed to produce two hours of thrilling suspense without *anything* actually bad happening to its protagonist at all. Not once. They were always threatening to, and he always had to keep scrambling and juggling and managing to avoid catastrophe by the skin of his teeth... and he always did. It was great. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see if the house of cards would, or would not, finally fall.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-12-23 02:55 pm (UTC)One of the best-constucted movies I've ever seen was a little unknown Richad Dreyfus film called Let it Ride. It managed to produce two hours of thrilling suspense without *anything* actually bad happening to its protagonist at all. Not once. They were always threatening to, and he always had to keep scrambling and juggling and managing to avoid catastrophe by the skin of his teeth... and he always did. It was great. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see if the house of cards would, or would not, finally fall.