My WIP

[Preacher]

My current project started out as a straight edged thriller. My main character is searching for his missing sister. Along the way, i wrote a scene that takes place in a Church. As i wrote it i suddenly saw my "priest" telling my main character that he is "special" and has a special destiny and purpose as far as finding those that are "lost." Now, there is an opening to kind of turn it into something a little different, meaning i can use that destiny thing to have things that are not just straight out of a standard thriller; maybe some sci-fi elements or horror or stuff like that.

The problem is that until that scene there was no evidence of anything "different" Is this kind of a tone switch normal? Does it happen or should i just leave it as standard without the added elements? I am kind of stuck on that.

[Sommer Leigh]

This is entirely just my personal reader preference, but I personally do not like reading a book that reads one way and then has an abrupt switch to something else, especially if that switch happens in a story that doesn't seem to need it. This is especially true when a story becomes suddenly supernatural. If usually feels forced and I lose interest because it wasn't what I came into the book expecting. If the supernatural story is what you intend from the beginning and it is obvious from the beginning that is what the reader expects, then cool. But I don't think you should surprise the reader with such a drastic genre change.

Again, that is just my opinion as a reader. I'm sure there are good exceptions to the rule. I just remember reading a book last year and it was contemporary YA until just past the halfway point and suddenly the possibility of the character being a werewolf was introduced and the tone shifted completely and I was so thrown by the change and so irritated by the "Gotcha!" tactic I couldn't finish the book. To this day that book makes me mad to think about.

[Preacher]

And i agree with you. It kind of felt like it would be forced as it sprang from a small meeting that did not need to become anything else. I needed the opinion, thanks!!!!!

The idea i had would always be good to just make a whole story out of, instead of trying to take two things and slamming them together and making one story.

thanks, again!!!!!

[polymath]

Searches for a sister as quest object objective, an oracle messenger "priest" tells of a destiny. Classic conventions of a traditional epic quest a la Homer's Odyssey. Add a few clashes with fantastical allied and nemesis beings and/or premises and it's a classic quest. What makes it a thriller? The sister abducted and time is running out to save her? At least one thrlller aspect of Odyssey is the time sensitive return of Odysseus before Penelope remarries, meanwhile, gods favoring the Trojans delay his return for ten years. Suspense emphasis takes priority over other plot attributes for a thriller in the sense the complication is time and/or life and/or impending disaster and psychologically sensitive.

I don't know what's meant by "tone switch." An oracle messenger scene can either introduce a bridging or main complication or build complication onto a main one. Switch in the sense of a reversal is one of the principal attributes of a plot, i.e., effect of a crisis, a causal setback, letdown, refusal, or a seemingly insurmountable obstacle preventing progress compelling greater efforts and increasing doubt of the outcome. Tone I know as the attitude of a narrative voice along the objective-subjective axis.

If the concern is whether an oracle scene changes the plot direction by creating a detour, it's not necessarily a discordant note. If the oracle adds thematically related complication to the quest's complications, unity is preserved. If the oracle provides a relief, it could be a coincidental solution the protagonist isn't proactive in solving and therefore could be discordant. Ideally, a messenger scene should take place early on and set up or increase doubt of the outcome.

Concerns I have with a protagonist seeking are twofold; one, it could be a Dischism, where a writer's seeking inspiration interjects into the narrative setting, easy solutions crop up; two, the self-efficacy and self-idealization parameters of author surrogacy can too easily telegraph a plot and jeapordize participation mystique. Those two are closely related. Thus, the challenges of messenger scenes go.

A question I'd ask; What will be most transformed by the antagonism of the complication? The protagonist's transformation is crucial for the outcome of a quest for the sake of a potent emotional payoff. How does the "priest" change the character of the main complication, antagonize efforts, and contribute to the protagonist's transformation?

[Watcher55]

Have you considered keeping that bit without changing the tone of the whole work? I met a preacher once who told me things. I was and am incredulous, but his comments have been like a bothersome fly in my brain ever since. It sounds like you might have one of those subtle little motes that influence what a MP does without him really being aware of it. Nothing supernatural there, just human interaction.

[Preacher]

The original thought when the Priest's words came out was to turn this into a series. The main character, hearing of destiny, and after rescuing uis sister at the end will now devote himself to finding "lost" or "missing" things or people. He would be dedicated to his cause and may even find out that the "saves" are all purposeful, in that the great anatagonist may be trying to remove seemingly inconsequential people from the life equation because of what they are "destined" to do. I need to create that great force, not sure what it would be yet. The removal of these people from life would bring the evil force closer to destroying the world.

That is the original thought when i wrote the scene.

[Watcher55]

The original thought when the Priest's words came out was to turn this into a series. The main character, hearing of destiny, and after rescuing uis sister at the end will now devote himself to finding "lost" or "missing" things or people. He would be dedicated to his cause and may even find out that the "saves" are all purposeful, in that the great anatagonist may be trying to remove seemingly inconsequential people from the life equation because of what they are "destined" to do. I need to create that great force, not sure what it would be yet. The removal of these people from life would bring the evil force closer to destroying the world.

That is the original thought when i wrote the scene.

I understand completely, and I often experience that same kind of, what I call, "possibility explosion" and I have stacks of legal pads to prove it. In the end, for me at least it had to come down to what the story itself wants.

Watcher: Wow, this could lead here and then it will transform the whole world into . . .

WIP: Back up Bubba, I'm the boss of this scene. It stays, but not for the reasons you think. Relax I know what I'm doing.

[Preacher]

The major ARC i have in mind would require several books. My main character would be the last descendant in the line of what the show FRINGE called first people, the people before people basically, that not many people know about. They were a technologically advanced race charged with shaping the growth of the planet. Things go horribly wrong (all backstory here of course) when a member of the tribe is banished. he will go on to become the evil that rages through the series. As the last one left, the main character is charged with preserving the future of the planet by "saving" of finding the "lost." He needs to find them because they are all important in that something in their future will be part of the chain that preserves humanity and without them everything crashes and dies. I am thinking the ultimate endgame is that either the earth is saved or it dies, killing life along with it. This way each mission is part of a bigger whole. I can have prophecies and creatures and other supernatural type stuff in the storyline.

[Watcher55]

The major ARC i have in mind would require several books. My main character would be the last descendant in the line of what the show FRINGE called first people, the people before people basically, that not many people know about. They were a technologically advanced race charged with shaping the growth of the planet. Things go horribly wrong (all backstory here of course) when a member of the tribe is banished. he will go on to become the evil that rages through the series. As the last one left, the main character is charged with preserving the future of the planet by "saving" of finding the "lost." He needs to find them because they are all important in that something in their future will be part of the chain that preserves humanity and without them everything crashes and dies. I am thinking the ultimate endgame is that either the earth is saved or it dies, killing life along with it. This way each mission is part of a bigger whole. I can have prophecies and creatures and other supernatural type stuff in the storyline.

Oh, I see and now I can see the temptation to branch into other (sub)genres, but stories, like children need discipline. My advice, don't go there unless you absolutely have no choice. It seems to me like you might compromise the edge you mentioned in your OP.