Be Adventurous!

I really like this post from over at Bookends. I think that the three points that Angie rose are excellent, and are what can make or break a book.

I dont think I could put it much better than she did, so I wont try, but I know that after a couple of glasses of JD & Coke I find that my fear (ie the side of me that makes me say "oh my god, did I just write that?!") diminishes and I start being more adventurous and seeing the potential of where my story could go.

I also think its quite important not to stick with the first few ideas you come up with and actually push yourself to the limit of your creativity. I mean, really, if the best ideas could be had so quickly and easily then why is it that most (all?) authors say writing a good book is actually quite difficult?! I've read some of the crap I've come up with at the drop of a hat, and to be honest it was utter crap. I may have had the seeds of some good ideas planted in there, but they definitely didn't flourish.

Putting in surprises is a good point, though I think it could backfire. In one book I read by Robin Hobb, right near the end she put in a surprise - it was a new race of people called the Peksies (or something like that) that she used to create conflict to keep Fitz from getting back to Buckkeep in time to see the Fool before he leaves possibly forever, and not only did it annoy me that she left the book on a cliff hanger like that, but it annoyed me that before then I'd never heard of the Peksies.

Perhaps thats not the right example for putting a 'surprise' in your story. Perhaps its just the smaller 'surprises' that Angie was meaning, ie like the dog talking back to the protag. But anyway, good or bad they will definitely make the writing more adventurous.

And I love a good adventure!