The Dragon Wasn't Real?

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess. This princess lived alone in a tower, far far away. The tower was guarded by a large dangerous dragon. One day a handsome young prince was riding along and encountered the dragon. Noticing that the dragon was guarding something, the prince decided to fight off the dragon and claim its prize. Little did the prince know what he was in store for...

END CHAPTER

NEXT CHAPTER

The prince dashed in with his sword blazing and swung with all his might. Only after the prince had ran through the cardboard cutout of the dragon, did he realize that he had been duped. It was a fake. PROCEED TO DISAPPOINTED READER FACE

Do you ever notice when books tend to do this. They throw in scenes at the end of a chapter that get you all pumped up, ready to read on, only to break out the dreaded "false alarm," card. To me, it's a cheating way to write. Yeah, it gets the reader to bypass their brain's recommendation to put the book down and go to bed (after all, it is 4am and you have to get up in 2 hours) but then what, you read on and the author completely closes down that climactic moment by avoiding the conflict and simply saying "never mind everybody, it's ok....it's ok."

Does anyone know of any SPECIFIC moments like this in any books you've read recently? Does it give you faith that the author will know how to tie up the ultimate climax of their book?

Results Are In & You Are . . .

Freaks... that's right. Freaks, the whole lot of you. Just kidding. Here's the results of the poll from yesterday after a whopping 20 votes. Thanks everyone for participating. As it stands:

25% of you would fit best into a story involving shirtless boys and high school summer flings. YA FICTION

20% of you feel you may be better off with pointy ears, or playing with magic as you find your true calling in a land far far away. FANTASY

15% of you are cloaked with an air of questions as you make your way through the mysterious who-dun-its of your daily life. MYSTERY

15% of you find solace deep amongst the cyborgs and deep space pilots as you swing into action carrying your trusted nerve-blasters and retina scanners. SCIENCE FICTION

10% of you can't get your head out of the gutter and simply are loathe to be anywhere than in the arms of your lover. ROMANCE

10% of you are happy as a clam to spend time with the forefathers of our great civilization and the events that shaped ours as well as many nations of the world. HISTORICAL FICTION

5% of you rub elbows with Freddy, Jack, the Blob, IT and a fruit basket of scary characters amidst the halls of fear central. HORROR

AND Last, certainly least (in my book) is the WESTERN Genre. Not a single one of you went knee high in boots and spurs, riding your horse to the nearest saloon.

Yay, I made a poll

Whirpool-of-Suggestions Question

As a novice writer, I could benefit from plenty of advice in the area of creative writing and novel planning in general. I'd like to tap my resource of friends (YOU) and ask:

Are there any seminars, conferences, classes or utilities that you believe I could benefit from, other than books about said topic?

What has helped you as a writer/author?