#anthony horowitz

[narwhalsdisguised]

She took a bite out of my book

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Tips: Plot Twists

tips from Anthony Horowitz

Don’t underestimate the planning. "I put everything down on paper. I make copious pages and pages of notes until I am ready to write and by the time I do sit down at my desk, I have a sort of a map of where I'm going and everything is going to work." Horowitz says. Make sure, though, that you leave a little room to surprise yourself when you get to the page: “If I can't surprise myself, how can I surprise my reader?”

Start with a simple formula. Not sure how that plan should begin? There’s a Horowitz Hack for that: “Start with a simple formula,” he advises. “A plus B equals C. A equals one person, B is another person, C is the reason why A murders B. That's your bullseye. If that's original and interesting and surprising enough, then you can tell us who A and B are, and and that's your next ring. Once you’ve got the basics,” he explains, “you can build out into the worlds your characters occupy, who knows them and how they know each other.”

People should be able to guess the twist. Want to know the secret of a killer plot twist? It should be obvious enough for people to potentially guess it – but surprising enough that they rarely actually do. One of the major influences on Horowitz’s work was Agatha Christie, an author who he says always surprises him but “you always feel you could have guessed because all the information has been down there in front of you. When I’m writing my book, I’m very influenced by that. When my publisher or my agent or anybody else reads one of my books, the first question I ask is not ‘Did you enjoy it?’ but, ‘Did you guess it?’ Because that, to me, is the crux of the matter. If they do guess it, I feel a sense of disappointment but at the same time, if they can't get it, then I haven't played fair. What I prefer to do is for them to say, 'No, I didn't get it, but I should have.' That's what I'm aiming for.”

Live inside your book. “There’s one piece of advice I would give to writers: don't stand on the edge of the book, looking over the edge of the chasm. Live inside the book looking around you,” Horowitz says. “What my characters see, I see. What they feel – the wind or the sunshine – I feel. If I'm inside the book, I'm not thinking about it as being something that you or anybody else will read. I am merely inside the world of the book – all that comes later.”

The only rule is originality. “If you ask me what are the do’s and don’ts in writing a whodunnit or a murder mystery? Quite simply, there aren’t any. Never constrain yourself. It is by doing the don'ts and not doing the do’s that you will write the completely original book for you – and find success.”

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[flowersforzoe11]

my top 5 NoContext Alex Rider moments in no order: (off the top of my head bc i haven't read this series since like 2019)

the time he declined his clone's facebook friend request because the vibes were off (he didnt even remember who julius was)

when he as wondering why damain cray was insane and he immediately assumed porn

when he gave a pitbull 6 sleeping pills cut inside of a steak (his entire escape plan hinged on this working) (this somehow worked)

when he and the K unit guys went on that nasty hike and they were being dicks and he was so Fed Up that he just threw a book of matches at them and left

when Alex and Ash met the disguises lady and Alex was cool with a) showing her his gunshot scar b) stripping in front of her and c) almost drowning himself in a bathtub to dye his skin, but the second she suggested wearing shoes that were half a size too small he drew his fucking line in the sand

[dxcstrange-stuff]

Behold! A traditional Alex Rider print I've done a wee bit ago (and one that took me way too much time)!

This one here is a screen print! Based on a German newspaper article from 1913. A bit bigger than A3, printed on different papers as well!

plus some BTS photos of the different papers and mesh screen!✨

[maryam26]

Not something I’d normally post but this has infuriated me for YEARS. The most popular Artemis Fowl ship is Hartemis. For anyone that doesn’t know, it is the titular character x a character named Holly Short. I don’t know, but I never noticed any chemistry between them but that’s not the point. The problem with this ship is that Holly is in her 80s and Artemis is 15 at the end of the series. Nobody ever seems to notice or care about that fact, though. Not only that, but she KISSED HIM. She kissed him and nobody acknowledges how messed up that is.

[teddyniffler]

Ian Rider: I have the money that can send you to a posh private school, but why the hell would you want to go to a stuck-up, snotty school? No, I'm going to send you to the local school, be more of a challenge for you.

Bullies: *Smells Alex Rider out the second he joins the school because of his doleful looks and softly spoken posh accent*

Alex Rider: Somebody phone an ambulance...but not for me.

*Sends said bullies straight to A&E*

Ian Rider: That's my boy! - Well Nephew I guess.

[point-two-two]

Ahorz about any female character: here's a bare bones description of what she looks like. Alex thinks she's pretty.

Ahorz about John: he had a universal charm about him but nonetheless a sense of danger rippled in his wake

Ahorz about Yassen: he moved with grace, yet in a way that betrayed a quiet strength. His features were as if carved from marble, and he dresses in such a way that brings out his understated beauty while allowing him to blend in perfectly

Ahorz about the Australian SAS guy: Big Fucking Pecs

[alexhatessupermarketcola]

Chaotic Alex Rider is my favourite.

One of my most favourite scenes is where he gets mad that his old friend started taking, stalks the drug dealer by bike then decides, yes, a logical option here is to play hook a duck claw machine with the drug production boat (people and all) using a crane to drop it off gently in the police station car park like you do.

(which of course ends up meaning instead being dropped from height through the conference centre next door's roof)

It's remarkable that Alex is even somewhat surprised at what happens next 😂

Truly top tier chaos.

[shealonewill]

So just finished binge watching the Alex Rider Series on Amazon Prime and have thoughts.

While the show does deviate from the books quite a bit, I actually enjoyed that fact.

Alex, while still being traumatised and the weight of the world on his shoulders, isn't fully alone. The books really pushed that narrative with loads of adults dying (especially those trying to help him) and particularly when the series originally ended with Scorpia Rising, he had no one and was a broken shell.

The TV show ended on a high, the bad guys are gone or disbanded, he's got his Team that he trusts and there is now respect between him and MI6 (aka Mrs Jones)

People love to say in general the book was better but this feels more like an AU with a happy ending and honestly after everything my boy has went through, I enjoyed it very much!

[spockvarietyhour]

Conversations to have with your invisible detective.

[dontwanthoney]

young yassen

[blackramhall]

It is romantic, yes. It is peaceful. The sun shines, the sea it is blue. But you forget, mon ami, that there is evil everywhere under the sun.

Agatha Christie's Poirot 08.01 Evil Under the Sun directed by Tom Clegg - dramatized by Anthony Horowitz ------------------------------------------------ Whodunit fan? Find more on Blackram Hall. Avatar pic by Mitchell Turek.

[flowersforzoe11]

thinking about the alex rider books and in the beginning we were like okay

this kid's uncle was a spy? truly how weird

and then a few books of silly missions later we're like wait the russian dude who killed said uncle was in love with the dead dad who we've never thought about before ?

okay

and then 2 of the next 3 books are wild missions interspersed with the craziest lore drops ever (and then alex casually goes into space between said books)

truly a wild ride start to finish

[dxcstrange-stuff]

Took me months to finish this one upon Kaos absolutely flabbering my gast halfway through working on it....I still miss him...

[kellelkallel]

I hate MI6??????? Like leave him ALONE that’s a little boy

[teddyniffler]

This! This is what we should be calling him.