Not having a clue has never stopped me from taking charge of a situation and this time was no exception. I appointed myself the leader and ordered everyone to follow my instructions to the letter.
We threw all the necessary ingredients into a large bowl. Then I read the fine print that stated we were supposed to boil it part way through. It was too late to fix so we decided to wing it and attempted to freeze them solid (my idea). Our No-Bake Cookies came out a lumpy mass of sugary chocolate goo.
We (me again) tried to save the day by forcing all of our classmates, using alternate methods of threats and begging, to eat our goo and say it was the best thing they ever tasted.
Our teacher didn’t buy it.
Neither will your readers.
You can have all the right ingredients for a bestseller but if you don’t use them properly…your novel may end up a big lumpy mass of goo. I’m not saying you have to follow a set of instructions to the letter; there is always room for originality. Throw some nuts in if you want, and don’t be afraid to give us a surprise or twisted ending. But plot, pacing, and believable characters remain the foundation of any great book recipe.
Just be careful…this isn’t 9th grade and you can’t threaten to beat up all your readers if they don’t love it.
Mmmmmmmmcookiesmmmmmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can beat up whoever I want to beat up.
So there.
ReplyDeleteNo-bake cookies and half-baked novels. Yeah, no dice. But I admire your spirit!:) LOL!
ReplyDeleteI believe I was in your class because I remember the exact same thing happening to me. Only we were making cupcakes. We didn't follow the recipe. At all. They didn't taste good. At all.
ReplyDeleteSo, I learned early on that I'm not a baker. I don't do well with precise measurements and then sticking something in the oven and hoping it turns out. I am good cook, though, because that's more instinctive and hands on and more open to improvisation.
I wonder what that says about me...
I thought threats were a perfectly legitimate means of marketing???? Love the way you try to correct the error by freezing them. Oh the errors I've tried to correct that way...
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Sometimes it can be easy to try and skip certain loopholes in a story and hope that no one notices. Fact is, readers to. Everything needs to tie up realistically and to the readers satisfaction. No half-truths or flaky conclusions - those will only make readers put your novel down asap.
ReplyDeleteWow what a great way to introduce that concept! I loved your story and want to read more about your childhood adventures. Thanks for adding some useful lessons in there too. :)
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