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odd_buttonsThe following is an excerpt from Part III of the book Making Shapely Fiction, by Jerome Stern. The first two parts are very much worth reading as well. The book is available in paperback.
Melodrama
Melodrama is a form that is devoted more to creating sensations than to making sense. It manipulates plots and characters for the sake of chills, thrills, sadness, and joy. It can have daring rescues, secret identities, sudden love, complete character changes, and plots so complicated it's sometimes not clear if even the writer has kept them straight.
Naturally, melodrama is terrifically popular.
See Bathos, Coincidence, Frame Story, Stereotype.
Melodrama
Melodrama is a form that is devoted more to creating sensations than to making sense. It manipulates plots and characters for the sake of chills, thrills, sadness, and joy. It can have daring rescues, secret identities, sudden love, complete character changes, and plots so complicated it's sometimes not clear if even the writer has kept them straight.
Naturally, melodrama is terrifically popular.
See Bathos, Coincidence, Frame Story, Stereotype.