Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Lessons From Jericho

The CBS show Jericho is one of my favorites. The suspense, the intrigue, the good guys fighting to right the wrongs-I love it all. Tonight, they killed off a character I liked. While I was cursing (no, not dime-worthy curses) the villain and wishing he'd been shot, it occurred to me why the story is more effective with their storyline.

As a fan, I would rather have seen the bad guy get shot and die. As a writer, I understand the importance of killing off the "good girl" character. Sacrificing her allows the audience to hate the villain even more. It makes us support the victim's brother and his fight for justice. It most definitely makes me want to tune in next week to find out what happens.

A good suspense book must do the same thing. The reader has to hate the villain enough to support the hero and heroine. The reader needs to care enough about the hero and heroine to WANT to see them win. The book needs to be suspenseful enough to leave the reader wishing she could stay up all night to finish it and make sure the villain gets what he or she deserves.

But right now I still wish the villain had been blown away.

Tuesday word count: Not sure. I left my notebook at school again. I know I got over 200 words, though.
Total Lenten Charity amount: $10.90

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was so shocked, I didn't even cry! But this also gives You Know Who a reason to jump sides and help the resistance now.

Lexi said...

Yes, I totally said that when it ended as it did. I think I was more shocked that SHE was blowing those guys away!

Anonymous said...

She totally rocked!