Promises and Payoffs

Sample Excerpts from Novels

We’re continuing our exploration of Promises and Payoffs this week by analyzing some sample passages from popular books to see what kind of promises they make.

It’s important as a writer to foster your skill at close reading. In fact, just last week, I taught a class on this topic to my MFA students. It’s important that we’re all able to break down prose into its parts to understand why and how they work (or don’t). But for the purpose of this post, we’re simply looking at how these authors are using the types of promises we’ve already discussed.

Let’s get into it.

“I’d been expecting someone so nondescript he was practically invisible, maybe the Cancer Man from The X Files, but this guy had rough, blunt features and wide blue eyes, and the kind of presence that leaves heat streaks on the air where he’s been.”

Tana French The Likeness, p. 4

Would you be surprised if the character that’s being described to never be mentioned again in the book?