Saturday, March 17, 2007

Crime novels where the writer chickens out

Can anyone think of examples where the expected crime does not take place and yet the story is still satisfying and you don't feel cheated? I've written myself into that situation. This is why I like short stories. You don't spend enough time with the protagonist to fall in love with him/her and want to save them from the original ending. Thanks.

1 comment:

Gerald So said...

If the character's journey toward not committing the crime is compelling, I'll gladly go along.

I don't know that I'd still call it a crime novel unless the character had criminal tendencies from the outset.