For the past few days I’ve been doubting the opening quarter of Zombie Ocean 3- but today I had s breakthrough. What seemed repetitive and dull became (I hope) gripping and taut. Even if we know what happens.
It’s no secret to say the opening part of Zombie Ocean 3 has some substantial overlap with books 1 and 2, just as book 2 had overlap with book 1.
Done well, I love this technique in the stories I read/watch, eg:
– LOST did it all the time, showing us the same events from new perspectives, tied in to different bits of the narrative, which serve as revelations that click the lens back.
Big ones were ‘The Other 48 Days’ which told the story of the crash from the perspective of the tail end survivors. Another was season 2 opener ‘Man of Science, Man of Faith’, which opened on life inside the hatch, after we’d spent much of season 1 wanting to get inside.
– Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card. I don’t like the man’s politics but I love those books- which tell the same core Battle School and Bugger War events from the perspectives of two lead characters, with many scenes and interactions repeated, but with fresh understanding each time.
Everyone is lead character of their own story, right?
– Also movies like Edge of Tomorrow, Groundhog Day, Pulp Fiction/Reservoir Dogs, and maybe the original of this type- Rashomon.
I hope I’m following in this tradition. I feel like with today’s breakthrough I’m heading in the right direction.
6 sales yesterday, 2 today, page reads hovering around 2000 a day. Perhaps I can finish this book by the end of October.