34. Surprising
It isn't easy to surprise people.
A writer I know has worked out how many good ideas his books need to work as he intends them. The magic figures are:
- 2 or 3 good ideas every 20 pages.
That's a good idea every 6 or 7 pages.
And what he means by a good idea is something that catches your attention and makes you want to know more. Or makes you want to know why. Or how.
In Advice to writers 33 – Suddenly,
I quoted the French comedian Pierre Desproges. He's a very good example
of someone who could twist ideas around and show you their unexpected,
hidden faces. For example, I heard one of his radio diatribes in which
he refused to give to a French government sponsored charity; he suggested
that the charity should be sponsored out of direct taxation and the
army should be financed by voluntary donations instead.
Likewise, Desproges used to do a number in which he demonstrated – alone, because he was a misanthropist – against the release of Andrei Sakharov, the Soviet scientist imprisoned under Brezhnev. He said people only protested for his release because they had protested in favour of Solzhenitsyn or some other dissident and the Sakharov thing seemed to be in the same area … Desproges wanted him to remain in prison because he was the father of the Soviet nuclear programme and therefore potentially responsible for the destruction of the human race.
'C'est un dangereux maniaque, ce type …'
I am always interested in writers who perform this
trick well. They undercut my first reaction and make me think again.
I enjoy being surprised.
