What I Have Learned About Writing From Reading, “The Ruins”

Warning for anyone planning to read the book or seeing the movie, these may be spoilers for you?  BTW, I have seen the movie trailer and although the essence is the same, the movie is quite different than the book.

Scenes Played Out of Sync For Maximum Terror

Something I have noticed towards the end of the book is that Scott Smith writes some of the scenes in reverse chronological order to provide maximum grueling effect to the reader.

In several occasions I have run into a scene type I call the discovery scene, this is where someone appears and discovers the result of an event.  In most cases in the book, the characters involved are either wondering where someone is or are alerted that something terrible may have happened.  Then when the discovery happens, the reader has a good idea of what might have happened.

But in the book, the reader is forced to read through the next scene that describes the event leading up to the discovery.  In most cases it was a very uncomfortable read because the reader knows what will ultimately happen, but still hopes that Jeff will survive his attempted escape even after he gets an arrow through the throat.

Another example is when Matthias finds Eric all cut up trying to get all the vines out of his body.  Then the next scene the reader is forced to read through the details and pains Eric goes through as he cuts open his arm and then uses the knife to fish for a vine between his muscles which ultimately leads to him pulling the skin off of his forearm all together.

Telling the Reader What the End Will Be

At the beginning of the novel you are essentially told what happens to everyone that walks up the hill.  Everyone dies.  The end.

But what the novel does is give the reader hope.  We all know that if you hope for the most wondrous thing, you will surely be let down, disappointed.  But the thing about this book is that one character has hope, while another tries to bring her back to reality.  So of course, when you have one or even two characters with their feel firmly planted, then the reader starts to identify with those characters and thus feel a sense of hope.

This happens when Jeff is shot by an array in the neck, but missing his throat.  The reader thinks that he may have a chance and actually keep on reading hoping that Jeff manages to save himself.

Law of Averages

In the story there are two antagonists, the vines and the Mayans.  The interesting thing about this pairing is that the Mayans are irrelevant if the vines don’t exist and the vines are still alive because the Mayans provide them with sustenance.  So one cannot exist without other.

Throughout the story, as I was reading I couldn’t help thinking, get rid of the vines and the Mayans will leave and so the protagonists can escape.  Get rid of the Mayans and the protagonists can leave since the vines are not strong enough to take on anything on its own.

So throughout the whole story I am thinking to myself, there’s 6 protaginist, one of them must be able to come up with an idea to get rid of the Mayans or get rid of the vines or be able to escape in the middle of the night.

There’s three ways to escape and six protagonists.  There’s are a lot of chances that someone will escape.  My hopes are super high.  It keeps me reading.