Let-down

You know what I really dislike? When there's great suspense that keeps you reading to find out what is really going on or what happened in the past or what the mystery really is....well, you get the idea. And you are dying of anticipation and you force yourself to read the thing word for word to make sure you don't miss anything important, and then the end comes and it is so weak, or so ridiculous, or the answer is just hinted at, not even spelled out. Arggg.

I used to read all the time. Now I rarely have time to read, so if I invest the time, I have high expectations. I read a book by one of my favorite authors (who's a New York Times bestseller, BTW) and when I got to the end, I couldn't believe how weak it was. What a rip-off. It just seems like when a person becomes successful enough that they can make a living off their name alone, the quality of their work suffers. IMO, that happened with Paul McCartney and his music writing. Have you heard his last song? I guess when you are a Beatle, you don't need to put any effort into anything anymore. :-) Anyway, this author has written more than 40 books. The first twenty or so were great. Since then, I can tell the effort she puts into each one is less and less.

I watched a movie yesterday that was completely geared around a mystery. The entire thing was a mystery that made me keep watching, waiting for the answers to what could everything possibly mean. And when I found out, I was sooo disappointed at how weak and stupid it was. It is like all the effort is put into building suspense, and there is nothing left for the end to ensure that everything is tied up, makes sense, and actually challenges the reader/watcher.

What about the Matrix? I totally lost interest when I realized that a person could never REALLY understand what was going on.

When you write a story, I'm a total believer in tying up EVERY loose end and actually researching and thinking of a plot that might be a little out of the ordinary, something that someone couldn't just think of off the top of their head.

This is just a gripe post. Sorry!