problem w/firestarter

[Bluey Lunger]

re-read this story over the weekend. great story. but there's that bit where the funky doctor is explaining to cap about charlie, the danger he sees, how her parents were able to instill in her a prohibition kinda like 'don't pee on the floor cause it's not nice'.

then, next chapter, or thereabout, we read about charlie and everything that funky doctor said is shown to us. previous chapter, the doc tells us. this chapter, charlie is shown to follow the doc's narrative, and then we see her begin to overcome that parental prohibition, etc etc.

first read or two, never noticed it. this re-read, it seemed a bit contrived.

so what does this tell me? i guess it tells me that in this section of the story, sk knew where the story was headed--he kinda had it outlined, ahead of time--hence the contrived feeling, and the story suffered, because of that, i think . :n: :oops:

[michal]

Don';t mean to diss you or anything, but do you really thing writers just "Give In" to the storyline, never to plant hints of future events, or creating a back storyline to support a certain outcome?

Sorry if this is the first time you notice this in a book, but I've never read a book that DIDN'T have that "Gun in the first act that will fire in the third".

In some stories it's just better hidden.

But why should that affect your enjoyment from the book? The writer was just doing his job, building up the story, preparing for the ending he already knew all about. The reader's job is to give in to the story, and postpone his realistic perception of the world, just for a little while, so the story can be told through.

[Lencho_of_the_Apes]

Firestarter isn't a bad book, but it has a feeling of being written according to formula, more than any of Sai K.s other novels, IMO. Maybe that's what you're picking up on. It's more like an unusually good Dean Koontz novel than your typical SK.

We all float down here.

[Bluey Lunger]

naw, michal, the chapters seemed just too contrived for it to be ignored. and by pointing it out, i figure to create this utopian society in which only perfect works come about. maybe sk was having a bad day.

i enjoyed the story, several times, it's just that on this read, i noticed that the chapter following the one where the funky doctor is warning cap about charlie, everything about that chapter is like a paint-by-numbers rehash of what the funky doctor was about.

me, i'm going to treasure these scenes from firestarter and i figure to read them again and again, just like i read all the mind-boggling scenes from sk's stuff. thanks for the replies, guys. i feel special. :)