The steady pattern of a story’s plot is to go downhill at three speeds: fast, faster, and even faster. Then, the climax hits and (if it’s a comedy) the thing suddenly shoots upwards, fast enough to make you dizzy. In
The Lord of the Rings is famous for taking ‘too long’ to end. The Ring is destroyed in chapter 3 of Book 6 of the story, followed by the final battle with Sauron in chapter 4. The next five chapters
The Lord of the Rings movies have three major pitched battles: Helms Deep, Pelennor Fields, and the Fields of Cormallen. Unfortunately, for all that Helms Deep is a (flawed) masterpiece, its successors are, in my opinion at least, not nearly
The Lord of the Rings is hands-down the greatest work of fiction ever penned by mortal man. I could talk for ages. Ask my family if you doubt me. The Lord of the Rings is the story that made me
Bilbo called himself, “thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread,” and our stories can be the same. A story can be stuffed with plot, bursting with characters, burdened down to the water by themes, and still