Crossing the line of plausibility

[a_sharp]

Just finished a news reporter mystery that bothers the heck out of me.

The guy writes well enough. I mean, he has a good grasp of characterization, dialog, pace, and at times his descriptions are wonderful. I was rolling along with him until it got to the confrontation with the bad guys. And then the writer just lost me.

His MC starts getting too talkative with some really bad people. In most books, they'd just off him. His MC goes through the book battling with his alcoholic past and never gets past it. His resolution is for the guy to snitch some of the illicit drug proceeds for himself and a destitute black woman. Do I want this guy to succeed? Do I care?

For me, the toughest part of fiction projects is building a plausible resolution. This particular writer got into the same predicament I often get mired in, and still he was published. Okay, not a kazillion in print, but it's out there nevertheless.

What do you think? Is this just me or does everyone grapple with lame ideas, run-at-the-mouth dialog, unsatisfying endings, bada, bada. And if you do, how do you fix it?

[JenNipps]

I think at some point everyone has to face something like that in their work.

Personally, if/when I come across something like that in my own work and I don't know how to deal with it, I take it to a critique group* and ask for input on that particular section. Barring that, if I can't get to my regular critique group (like this month), I'll try to find one of my betas who can look at it and tell me how far off base I am.

*Critique groups aren't for everyone. I wouldn't take it to just any critique group. This particular group is made up of friends/acquaintances I've known for ... 7-ish years and so have a good rapport with them.

[LaceWing]

a_sharp, you're clearly doing some very observant reading. Seems to me that when you get down to the work, you'll be more and more aware of when you're doing it "right," as you define it. Knowing when it feels wrong has to be the first step.

Then, I don't know what might work for you. For me, freewriting loosens up the mind and gets down into the meat of the question or problem. Like, "he uses the knife instead of piano wire, why? it's physical with him before safety or anything else, the knife move is like what? (stand up and do the move) Oh, the muscles in the legs are stretched, it feels to him almost like he's about to leap. and yes, that leap he had to make when he was 12 to stop the boys against his sister..." Know what I mean?

But, I've not been writing much for a while. I could be doing it wrong myself, but it makes some sense to write about the writing to find out what you're up to.