When you think about it, you realize Clancy has a great point. Many people read fiction to escape reality. They read it for a story, the characters, or to learn more about your topic. They also want to be kept in suspense, they want to turn those pages! When a book like this is discovered, most describe the experience as, "feeling real". The characters "feel real" the setting "feels real" the dialogue "feels real".
They do not mean what they say.
If you're going to be a writer, you need to know the difference between fiction and reality. Reality not only doesn't make sense, but it is very tedious. It takes us days or weeks to get to know someone, and then the dialogue is often chunky and filled with extraneous words and pleasantries. If fiction followed this format, the reader would put the book down in ten pages.
To keep the reader engaged in fiction, dialogue has to be snappy. As a rule, keep each character's dialogue to 4 lines or less. Yes, this means no monologues. If you're now saying, "But I really need that five page monologue in chapter 6!" tell yourself that any dialogue over 4 lines costs $50,000. Now, do you really need it that bad? Can you summarize, cut, or make the exchange into a dialogue rather than a monologue?
Also, unlike reality, fiction only gives the reader the information she needs when she needs it. Reality can be an overload of information and sensory detail. New writers often interpret this "reality" in their fiction by forcing an info dump in the first few chapters. You know all about the character's past, their likes and dislikes and their thoughts on everything. Though this is technically "realistic", it makes for a terrible reading experience. Space out your background info and only give what the readers NEEDS. (Note: this is easier said than done. Find a writing partner for help.) And sensory details should be included, but sparingly. We don't need to know what it tastes, smells, looks, feels, and sounds like unless it is quintessentially important as foreshadow or a clue in mystery novels. Otherwise, pick, say, two. Give the reader enough to feel engaged and immersed, but not too much to be overwhelmed.
In short, be like Clancy. Take the dizzying reality of the characters in your head and the life experiences you've gathered and turn them into fiction. Cut your dialogue or pay. Keep the senses in check, and keep suspense high by avoiding the ever-traveled road to the info dump. If you do these, you may end up with a beautiful work of fiction.
No comments:
Post a Comment