The 5th Wave - 3/2/16

Writing Prompt: What special way does the author write? Does that make reading it better or worse? Explain.

I quite like the way the author, Rick Yancey, writes. He starts off with the main character, Cassie, in the present, and he writes as if she is telling a story. As Cassie goes through life, on a quest in this alien apocalyptic world, she starts off by saying something that happened in the past, as if she is starting to tell you a story. Then it goes to a flashback. An example would be when the book says, "Mom died on a Tuesday. Dad buried her in the backyard, in the rose bed." Then Cassie talks about how her dad and her brother acted leading up to the day her mom died, then she talks about the day a little bit. Then after that it goes to a flashback of that day, the moment her mom died.

Another example of this flashback, story telling writing style, is when Cassie starts to talk about her brother. The author writes it as if she is talking to someone, but in reality Cassie is all alone: "I guess I have to talk about Sammy now." The author I writes this and it makes it look like Cassie is writing in book or telling someone this. Once Cassie says this she starts to talk about her situation and how Sammy is the only thing that keeps her going. She then shifts over and starts talking about how they went to a camp. After she talks about it, there is a flashback of a time that they were all in the camp. 

I like that the author writes like this because it shows the differences between the characters in the past and present. I also like it because it shows emotion in the main character as she talks about the things that happened in the past, and how they have effected her life in the present. I also like how the author makes it sound as if Cassie is writing this story for people to read, and how he includes flashbacks after the main character has already told the reader about the time the flashback is going to. 

Another thing the author does is that in some flashbacks, he writes as if Cassie is saying it, and she is talking about it in past tense. An example would be when Cassie is telling a story with dialogue, and she says "I had said to her". This shows that Cassie is saying this as if it was in the last, and she is telling someone what was said.

I think this makes the reading experience better because I find this writing style very interesting. I like how I get to see past and present, and I like how the author writes as if the main character is telling someone this as if it was a story, or as if the main character was writing this down like it was a book or journal. To me, this writing style makes the reading experience more enjoyable.