tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5143902778606793130.post2152268552129640715..comments2023-05-07T07:43:51.224-04:00Comments on Still and Still Moving: How Much Detail?Deborah Leiter Nyabutihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15550153856823115989noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5143902778606793130.post-68356245006984671702008-09-03T21:09:00.000-04:002008-09-03T21:09:00.000-04:00I think it's the reason it's so hard to fully rend...I think it's the reason it's so hard to fully render fully imagined worlds without getting overly dull about all the details the author is so intrigued by. In more "everyday"-type worlds, you can leave more things unsaid, or at least undefined...<BR/><BR/>I've always liked Ms. Rowling. Her prose isn't as stylistically beautiful as, say, Fredrick Buechner or Alice Munro, but it does what it sets out to do very well, which is something every writer should be proud to do: keep the reader delighted to be in the world of her novels and have trouble setting them down.Deborah Leiter Nyabutihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15550153856823115989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5143902778606793130.post-23847938807587777932008-09-03T20:57:00.000-04:002008-09-03T20:57:00.000-04:00It's pretty fashionable to bash on Ms. Rowling and...It's pretty fashionable to bash on Ms. Rowling and her writing, but you're absolutely right. She has that balance dead on correct.<BR/><BR/> I wonder if it's easier to achieve that balance in a thoroughly imagined world? I wonder if that is part of the appeal of created worlds.<BR/><BR/> Thoughts?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10786796599617563930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5143902778606793130.post-57640136188722012732008-09-03T20:54:00.000-04:002008-09-03T20:54:00.000-04:00Yeah, I think there's a balance, but I don't alway...Yeah, I think there's a balance, but I don't always know where it is, particularly in fiction. <BR/><BR/>I like what James Wood said in his <I>How Fiction Works</I>: "I think that novels tend to fail not when the characters are not vivid or deep enough, but when the novel in question has failed to teach us how to adapt to its conventions, has failed to manage a specific hunger for its own characters, its own reality level. " (p. 120). <BR/><BR/>I think this applies not just to characters, but also to the worlds we create, and if so, it takes the weight off a bit--we get to create our own reality levels within each piece. The trick, I think, is to create scenes and actions and characters that do double-duty--creating and sustaining the dream of the story while sneaking in details about the characters' world that teach you stuff about their spheres of experience and knowledge at the same time.<BR/><BR/>It's a fine art, it is. :) Chaim Potok is amazing at it, as is J. K. Rowling, actually.Deborah Leiter Nyabutihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15550153856823115989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5143902778606793130.post-25374949085505094542008-09-03T13:18:00.000-04:002008-09-03T13:18:00.000-04:00I wish I had any useful insight. I'm torn as hell...I wish I had any useful insight. I'm torn as hell on the issue. There is a school that says you need to give your readers every piece of information they need to understand your story.<BR/><BR/> On the other hand, a giant amount of my own education came from my own interest in the stories I read. If a character mentioned something in passing, or if the author used a term I didn't understand, then I was filled with a need to find out.<BR/><BR/> It opened up whole areas of the world to me, that self-directed research. What's more, I think it's good.<BR/><BR/> In my 3 Day, Harry makes regular mention of his Quaker upbringing and uses terms they use. I don't explain these. He wouldn't. He knows full well what they mean. For him, or for me, to suddenly give a history of the faith and its practices would be a shift out of the story, and into lecturing.<BR/><BR/> I have always hated that when authors did that.<BR/><BR/> Yet, I also know that some of his actions and decisions have more impact in light of his faith, and less so when you don't know exactly why he's made them.<BR/><BR/> For my part, I sometimes like those moments when I don't really understand every part of the way a character's mind works. Some hate that.<BR/><BR/> Me, I don't know what the hell is the right way to go.<BR/><BR/> Maybe there isn't even one.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10786796599617563930noreply@blogger.com