What is 'Volta,' the turning point that suddenly makes a boring story interesting?
'The beginning was boring, but a certain scene in the middle suddenly drew me into the story,' or 'At first I thought it was just an ordinary anime, but episode 3 completely changed my mind.' There are scenes or passages in creative works that suddenly make the story interesting.
Every Novel Is Boring—Until It Isn't - Public Books
https://www.publicbooks.org/every-novel-is-boring-until-it-isnt/
According to Adler, when he reads novels, he always experiences a tendency where 'it initially feels boring, but suddenly it seems like the most interesting thing in the world.' He explains that when he reaches this turning point in a work, the effort he put into persevering through it up to that point is rewarded, and the work transforms into something he wants to keep reading.
Adler calls this turning point in the story the 'Volta.' The term Volta originates from the European fixed-form poetry of the sonnet (a 14-line poem) , and refers to the turning point in a sonnet that occurs between the first 8 lines and the last 6 lines, or between the first 12 lines and the last 2 lines. Upon reaching the Volta, the poet's narrator gains a new perspective on what they have been discussing up to that point.
On the other hand, in creative works such as novels, the Volta is not so much a turning point in perspective as it is more like a 'turning point to instinctive pleasure.' Mr. Adler, who is a novel lover himself, reads with the expectation that 'the Volta will come someday,' and this allows him to endure the beginning and middle sections, which may be less exciting or even disappointing. 'If I were told before reading a novel that there is no Volta, I would never open that novel,' Mr. Adler says.
According to Adler, the Volta in sonnets is so clear that a teacher instructs the reader to mark it with a pen, whereas in novels, the Volta is a universal element that almost all readers experience at some point, but where it is perceived to be is left to subjective judgment. Therefore, even in the same novel, the location of the Volta differs from person to person.
Adler actually had several friends read
On page 75, a friend who experienced Volta said that he experienced it when a character who temporarily became the narrator made a 'confession that forced him to re-examine the events up to that point from a new perspective.' However, Adler himself says that after that scene, the previous character returned as the narrator, and he experienced Volta when the outcome of the story became clear.
In recent years, many young people have stopped reading novels, and adults are concerned that 'students may be losing the cognitive abilities necessary to understand long novels' and 'their ability to concentrate on stories may be diminished by the influence of smartphones and social media.' In response, Adler suggests that students may not be motivated to continue reading novels for extended periods because they are unaware of the existence of Volta, which makes novels instantly more interesting.
People who have been familiar with novels since childhood understand intuitively that 'even if a novel is boring at the beginning, it will become much more interesting at some point,' even if they don't have the concept of Volta. However, if you don't know that there are points in a novel that suddenly become interesting, it's natural to give up reading if you find the beginning boring. As a way to solve this problem, Adler suggests simply 'teaching students about the existence of Volta.'
However, caution is needed when teaching about Volta. While Volta tends to occur at key turning points in a story, where one perceives a Volta varies from person to person. Sometimes it can take a very long time to encounter a Volta, or the Volta may be disappointing, making the novel uninteresting. Adler himself has regretted reading a novel expecting a Volta, only to find it uninteresting and wishing he had stopped reading.
Nevertheless, the Volta can be considered a useful concept for getting people interested in novels. While a 'plot twist' is often cited as a major source of Volta, it also has drawbacks, such as 'the reader having to read most of the pages bored by dragging out the twist until the very end' and 'the attempt to conceal the twist making it difficult for readers to anticipate when the Volta will occur.'
6 Tips for Adding a 'Twist Ending' to Your Story - GIGAZINE
Furthermore, Adler suggests that people may be hoping for a kind of Volta in their relationships as well. For example, when there is tension between friends or lovers, continuing to hope that 'this relationship will improve someday' may be similar to hoping for Volta in a novel.
Adler stated, 'It's ambiguous whether these relationships will ever end. In that sense, the fact that the turning points in a novel bind us for a certain period of time may be a kind of comfort,' arguing that because novels are finite, it's easier to anticipate a Volta.
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