Dragaera

Writing style of Issola

Tue Feb 11 22:38:53 PST 2003


Max Rible wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 2003-02-11 at 13:04, Chris Turkel wrote:
> > On Tuesday, February 11, 2003, at 03:38 PM, Mark Tiller wrote:
> >
> > > Did anybody else notice that Issola was written with a certain nod
> > > towards television.  One of the things struck me was the habit SKZB had
> > > in the book of putting a dramatic line or paragraph right at the end of
> > > a chapter as a TV Show would just before an ad break.
> 
> > I didn't really pick that up but that kind of style is sometimes good
> > for grabbing the reader and driving the book forward. I call those
> > "chapter cliff hangers"; if you want to know what happens, read on!
> 
> You can see it in *really* old writing, like in the Chinese classic,
> "Outlaws of the Water Margin"; I think it originates in storytellers
> who are sitting around in teahouses with an implicit "if you want
> to find out what happens next, buy the storyteller a meal!"

That sort of chapter ending is pretty much classic Chinese style for the
Sagas.  I really should read Water Margin soon, but I'm in the middle of
a new translation of Journey To The West, and will be reading Romance Of
The Three Kingdoms soon.

Creation Of The Gods is a good read as well.