The Prize | Techniques

The Prize Techniques

The Prize is an excellent example of Wallace's formula for a best seller. The author alternates several plot lines, bringing one to a suspenseful point before turning to another. Wallace learned this technique as a playwright and scriptwriter. As the novel progresses, the plot lines gradually intersect and affect each other. The conclusion brings all the characters together, like buses from different routes at a central station.

Another technique that keeps reader interest is the steady flow of factual information about the city of Stockholm and the Nobel Prize procedures.

The novel is set in a real place that the author renders accurately and with detail. The author puts his characters through the actual rites of the selection process and the awards ceremony.

Punctuating the fictional episodes are historical anecdotes of Alfred Nobel (the founder of the prizes), of previous winners, and of the...
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