RSS

Tag Archives: exposition

Does Too Much Detail Spoil the Pace?

07 Oct

I’ve been working on a scene involving a spiritual ceremony. It is based on a real ritual. The initial part scene is full of sensory details and the mechanics of the ceremony. Yesterday, I sat down to write and as usual, I read the last few paragraphs to refresh my recollection and get into the mood of the scene. During the read back, I realized that, though vivid, the scene had so much detail that is slowed the pace to a crawl. Just as important, was the fact that so much detail was, not necessarily, important to help create the feelings I wanted the reader to experience.

This particular scene has two primary purposes. First, to foreshadow upcoming events and second, to enhance the conflict. As I wrote the scene initially, I went into all of the details of the ceremony trying to make it as real for the reader as if they were actually there. My thinking was that it would be easier for the reader to understand the source of ‘visions’ (i.e action) the protagonist was having in the later part of the scene. When I read the scene, the experience of the ceremony was there. However, it took a long time to get to the purpose of the scene. I’m not ready to trash the experiential detail as yet. I want to finish the scene and see if the action of the second half offsets the slow pace of the beginning. If it does, I’ll leave it in. If not, it will get sliced during revision.

I much prefer a quicker paced read.  Give me enough detail to paint a picture and move on. My imagination is vivid enough to fill in the blanks, Some of the ‘Masters’ e.g. Tolkien, Jordan, Brooks, drive me nuts with the amount of detailed description. Is a four page dissertation about a pastoral setting really necessary to bring the reader into the setting? I’m sorry, but the answer is, no. Most people who read the fantasy genre already have overactive imaginations. They only need a swift kick in the pants to get an image in their heads and to the reader, their version is more vivid than the writer can explain it anyway.

However…There are times when detail is necessary. Usually this happens when the thing being described is critical to the story. For example, the description of the one Ring in LOTR. It is THE critical piece of the story so taking the time to describe it, makes perfect sense. The thing to keep in mind when adding detail to your scene is, ‘How important is the description to the Plot?’. If it is not that important, a few words or lines should be sufficient to set the scene and bring in the reader’s senses. If it is ‘the One Ring’ of your story, go ahead and take some time. It will add emphasis the reader will grasp.

As always, try to mix your setting details and descriptions into the action and/or dialogue so as to avoid the infamous info dump.

So, tell me, Do you prefer a lot of detailed description or can you get by with just enough to pique your imagination?

 
12 Comments

Posted by on October 7, 2013 in Thoughts on Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

When is a Prologue not a Prologue?

02 Jan

Much of my writing time of late has been spent, as it should be, on my current WIP novel, “Smoke and Goblet”. I wrote what I thought would be the opening scene quite a while ago. My writing group critiqued it and I made revisions. Thinking I had a solid opening scene, I moved on to writing other scenes that would round out the first third of the book. Several of these scenes introduced other major characters and gave additional exposition regarding the main conflict. While writing a scene introducing my primary antagonist, I hit a wall. The scene just did not feel right. It read like a flashback based on the preceding scenes.

I went to my storyboard and moved some scenes around. The logical place for this scene was the opening scene. I based this on the flow of ownership of the object that causes the main conflict in the plot and not on which character is introduced first. It just made more sense to me that the reader would want to know how the object got to where the protagonist obtains it. Also, it is a great set up to show just how nasty the antagonist is.

My dilemma came from several writing sources which stated, “Anything before the protagonist is introduced, is a prologue.” These sources further state that, “Prologues, with few exceptions, should be avoided.” Prologues require the author to write two opening scenes which cause the reader to start the story over. A prologue often contains characters other than the main characters of the story, is set in an early time, and/or is located in a different setting. It is a set up that may provide exposition the author can think of no other way to introduce to the reader. I have read novels with and without prologues and I understand what the writing sources were trying to say. I think most stories can do without a prologue quite nicely. That brings me back to the question of this post.

My opening scene introduces my antagonist, his evil personality, and the object which will be the main cause of conflict for the remainder of the story. The second short scene shows how the object changes hands before the protagonist is introduced and obtains the object in the third scene. I do not believe that the first two scenes fit the definition of a prologue as the timeline, antagonist, and conflict are consistent with the rest of the story plot. I’m not adverse to using a prologue. I’m just not sure that is what I’m dealing with.

So…when is a prologue not a prologue? Have you used a prologue in your writing? Did an editor ask you to either add or delete a prologue? What was their reasoning?

 
16 Comments

Posted by on January 2, 2013 in Musings and Odd Thoughts, Thoughts on Writing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Me watching you watching me

18 Dec

Dear Friends and Acquaintances,

Yesterday, it struck me again how much information is available on the internet. What started out as a two-minute search for the properties of Bloodstone, turned into a three-hour session that covered topics ranging from geology to modern magic to Wicca to various other organized religions to the US Bill of Rights to personal information on a friend of mine. I found the Bloodstone information I was looking for in the first two minutes, but I just could not help myself. One question led to others. It is so easy to get lost in the internet and the nearly limitless amount of information house there. So, needless to say I fell farther behind on my FAD challenge word count.

Then, I jumped on the blogosphere, read a few posts, and made some comments. As I was commenting on a post, it occurred to me, again, how much personal information we share with others without giving it much thought. We talk about ourselves, our families, and our lifestyles. What we like to eat, to drink, where we like to go and things we like to do. Now, I am no longer as paranoid as I used to be in my younger days. I don’t post information about others without their expressed permission. However, there is still a little voice that tells me to pay attention to what goes on around me. People are watching what I say and do. 😐  Dun, dun, duuun!

Since I am giving out so much information on myself, I thought it would be a good idea to keep track of who it is I’m giving this information to. WordPress, to my knowledge, has not seen fit to provide who stops by to view my posts so, I must take matters into my own hands. I decided to create a clone. The clone would need a disguise to ensure no one would know it is me. It cannot sleep and should be easy to care for.

For reasons which I will not get into in this public medium, I have a close relationship to the Rabbit/Hare. Yes, I know they are very different. I am a biologist for crying out loud. However, many people think they are the same thing and I am not inclined to take the time to explain it every time the question comes up. That’s what the internet is for.  🙂 But I digress. I looked through 80,000 images and found a self-portrait which now resides at the top of my blog site.

So, beginning now, I will always be here, watching you watching me!

 
6 Comments

Posted by on December 18, 2012 in Musings and Odd Thoughts

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

How much is too much?

03 Jul

Really? You needed 723 pages to tell this story? Is it me or has the average page count of fantasy novels gotten out of hand? And it’s not just fantasy. Action adventure, historical fiction, romance, I look at the book shelves and all of the books seem to be expanding. Why?

First, let me say that I understand that everyone has their own likes and dislikes when reading a book.

Of the last twenty books I have read, fourteen broke the four-hundred page mark. Three were over five hundred and one was seven hundred twenty-three pages. When I finished this monster I realised I was less entertained than other books I’ve read that were half that size. I’m talking same genre, similar types of characters, similar plots, similar settings. I’m also talking about some of the most successful authors in the fantasy genre.

So, I asked myself why did this extremely successful book fail to live up to my expectations? The main thing that struck me was how many times the entire plotline up to the current time frame was replayed. Every time, each of the multitude of characters stopped to rest, they would replay, in their thoughts, all of the events of their journey up to that point (4-6 pages for each). Doing this for the main character once or maybe twice at a strategic point in the story can emphasize the character’s feeling of depression or frustration. But, using it every eight to ten pages for each of eight characters is just boring. I found myself skimming these sections after the first six or seven times. A conservative estimate would indicate that cutting these sections would have reduced the page count by nearly 100 pages! More importantly, removing them would not have taken away from the story. Why would the editor allow this? I am not criticizing the author directly because, for starters, he has sold millions of books and I have not. But as a reader I too have likes and dislikes. I have read well-written tomes that were page turners. I don’t mean flipping several pages ahead to skip the uninteresting character or the replay of the plotline for the umpteenth time. These books used every word to paint the story and move it forward in a meaningful way.

However, back to the original question. Why is it books seem to be getting bigger? It must be economics otherwise the publishing houses would limit the page count. Is it really cheaper to print and distribute 60 epics or 100 books that will still fit in the hip pocket of my jeans? Is longer better?

Interestingly, my brother-in-law just handed me three western novels to read. the Average page count is 160! Louis L’Amour wrote 89 novels and sold over 120,000,000 copies since his death in 1988. Hmmmmm.

 
16 Comments

Posted by on July 3, 2012 in Musings and Odd Thoughts

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

The First Person

11 Jun

Most of my reading of late has been by authors, Jim Butcher and Kevin Hearne, who utilize the first person point of view in their urban fantasy series’. I enjoy the intimacy that this POV provides into the protagonist. I feel like I know these characters. I truly feel like I’m in their heads and feeling their pain. Usually, I end up screaming at them, sometimes out loud, that they should do something different because they obviously are too stupid to see what’s coming. My wife tends to look at me with disgust and shake her head when I get too loud. Anyway, I had not given much consideration to writing in first person for my fiction until a few weeks ago. I have written a few first person experiential vignettes but always looked to third person for my fantasy work.

During a writer’s group timed exercise I just started writing in first person. To say it was different would be a gross understatement. I had to keep telling myself to stay out of the secondary character’s heads. My protagonist would have no idea what the other individual was thinking except by watching and listening to other character’s reactions. Why I have not looked at this before is beyond me.

As I began to evaluate the exercise, it dawned on me that first person is a natural vehicle for a fantasy writer. When we fantasize, don’t we tend to put ourselves into the fantastic situation? We don’t know what the outcome will be and we certainly don’t have all the information of the universe at our disposal. We have to react without knowledge of other’s motivations.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of taking one of my favorite characters, jump into their body, and take it for a spin without regard to what I think I know about their world. I did create it after all.

First, I plan to take my original exercise piece and finish the scene the way it was playing out in my head when I wrote the opening. It is somewhat different from how my fellow writer finished it (see Dual Writing Exercise – Part Deux).

Then, I think Yursi Sonal, my protagonist from a short story and several flash pieces, will become my experiment. Don’t worry, she won’t mind. In my world, she trusts me. 😉 I have another short story idea for her that I will try with first person.

So, before I plunge headlong into this without a care in the world, I have a few questions for those of you who are intimately familiar with this POV. What are some of the major issues that you have struggled with? E.g. Exposition of information the protagonist needs to know, continuity of antagonist’s motivations and actions, internal dialogue, etc. Do you prefer writing is first or third person? Why?

 
13 Comments

Posted by on June 11, 2012 in Other Strangeness

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,