Give me a writer who employs any of those four techniques and I will show you a person who behaves passive-aggressively in real life, and who is most like to vaguebook on FB. There's an element of "testing" to the communication style - "if you really care, you will ask., or be patient enough to wait till all is explained." It's irritating. And for crying out loud, if an editor, or mentor, or trusted reader points it out, don't react defensively. JUST FIX IT. Those who won't haven't grasped the one thing I always tell my students on the first day: "All writing is rewriting." And rewriting is harder than writing. Some people just can't bear that they didn't get it right the first time, they are just awaiting validation, not constructive criticism. Some seem to believe that writing is not hard work. It's like raising children - the toughest job you'll ever love, as the old Peace Corps ad went.
I personally take great pleasure in finding ways to situate the reader with orienting details, the kind found in the literary examples you gave. In prison, I was transferred to 6 different places with very distinct personalities, and in my memoir, I had to characterize them in quick and vivid strokes, only getting very detailed about one week in a cacophonous hell-hole, where the physical layout was extremely important.
Clarity in this regard is super-important if your audience includes audiobook readers. It's annoying enough to feel lost when you're reading a book-book, but you can go back a few pages to check. If it happens in an audiobook, it's lethal.
I'm one of those magazine editors you talk about and I agree - that's a common frustration reading short stories that are submitted - the confusion about where we are, who these people are, which leads to why should I care? Or more precisely, I don't care because you've confused me. One rule for writers (and there aren't many) Don't make your reader feel dumb.
This was super helpful! It always surprises me when I get feedback on first drafts how much of it was apparently only clear inside my mind.
For a novel, I'm curious whether you can assume that the reader has glanced at the cover/inside blurb or that the editor has read the query letter, or whether it should all make sense in total isolation. In particular, I sometimes find it challenging to introduce orienting facts in first person or close third.
Amelia, for instance, would have doglike thoughts but would not actually think "I am a dog!" Or in my opening paragraph, I have a sentence "She let the door to the locker room slam shut" and am torn on whether to specify that it's the varsity basketball locker room, since the character herself thinks of it as the locker room. I guess the trick is to include the orienting clues without breaking the illusion of the character perspective?
I would never assume anyone's read the book jacket. For one thing, more and more books are consumed on audio...
You're right that it can be super awkward to have people think about their lot in life for no reason. (I hate, for instance, "I swept my auburn hair out of my eyes"... Like, you were NOT thinking about the color of your own hair. I should probably do a follow-up post about this phenomenon...
But yeah, in brief, it's a matter of filling us in, but realistically to the POV character's experience. Notice how "no one in living memory had ever seen a Japanese face" is doing that, above. Plus, of course, you could have a POV that's not at all about what the character is thinking in that one moment. Like, "She let the door to the locker room slam shut. This was the varsity basketball locker room, which she'd first seen on her 8th grade tour of the school..."
I've been guilty of "mysterious, cryptic, and vague," which was the most important feedback you gave me in our Novel in a Year session. I'm about to find out if I still have that problem in the StoryBoard workshop 😳
Btw, I hope you caught the New Yorker article (Aug 7) "Hidden Depths" by Rachel Monroe. Some of the True Crimers involved are right out of "I Have Some Questions for You."
In the first chapter of my novel-in-progress, a character shows up in Patagonia. The character is never named, the reader only knows they are American. This is supposed to be the big mystery here, "who is the american?" is a question throughout the novel that gets answered at the end. I'm worried that this will feel disorienting or cheap, because I am not really naming any visual characteristics of this character. How do I evaluate this?
I really can't answer since I haven't read this, but the questions I'd ask myself (and an outside reader) are: 1) Is this confusing? 2) Is this annoying (i.e., does it feel desperate or taunting)?; and 3) Does this make sense given the novel's point of view? ... But I'd also just caution you that it's hard to pull of a story where the biggest mystery (and/or the biggest surprise) is only for the reader, and not for the characters.
LOVE this! The teacher in me feels very seen. Question: Do you ever actually say to the class “there is as difference between successful mystery and annoying mystery?”
Give me a writer who employs any of those four techniques and I will show you a person who behaves passive-aggressively in real life, and who is most like to vaguebook on FB. There's an element of "testing" to the communication style - "if you really care, you will ask., or be patient enough to wait till all is explained." It's irritating. And for crying out loud, if an editor, or mentor, or trusted reader points it out, don't react defensively. JUST FIX IT. Those who won't haven't grasped the one thing I always tell my students on the first day: "All writing is rewriting." And rewriting is harder than writing. Some people just can't bear that they didn't get it right the first time, they are just awaiting validation, not constructive criticism. Some seem to believe that writing is not hard work. It's like raising children - the toughest job you'll ever love, as the old Peace Corps ad went.
I personally take great pleasure in finding ways to situate the reader with orienting details, the kind found in the literary examples you gave. In prison, I was transferred to 6 different places with very distinct personalities, and in my memoir, I had to characterize them in quick and vivid strokes, only getting very detailed about one week in a cacophonous hell-hole, where the physical layout was extremely important.
Clarity in this regard is super-important if your audience includes audiobook readers. It's annoying enough to feel lost when you're reading a book-book, but you can go back a few pages to check. If it happens in an audiobook, it's lethal.
Thank you for this, as usual.
I'm one of those magazine editors you talk about and I agree - that's a common frustration reading short stories that are submitted - the confusion about where we are, who these people are, which leads to why should I care? Or more precisely, I don't care because you've confused me. One rule for writers (and there aren't many) Don't make your reader feel dumb.
This is great, thank you! I just signed up for the class and I'm really looking forward to it!
Thank you, panicking that Chapter 1, written in the back of a cop car, which smelled of last night's beer, was disorienting. Running, later.
You're so generous, this is so helpful. Thank you.
This was super helpful! It always surprises me when I get feedback on first drafts how much of it was apparently only clear inside my mind.
For a novel, I'm curious whether you can assume that the reader has glanced at the cover/inside blurb or that the editor has read the query letter, or whether it should all make sense in total isolation. In particular, I sometimes find it challenging to introduce orienting facts in first person or close third.
Amelia, for instance, would have doglike thoughts but would not actually think "I am a dog!" Or in my opening paragraph, I have a sentence "She let the door to the locker room slam shut" and am torn on whether to specify that it's the varsity basketball locker room, since the character herself thinks of it as the locker room. I guess the trick is to include the orienting clues without breaking the illusion of the character perspective?
I would never assume anyone's read the book jacket. For one thing, more and more books are consumed on audio...
You're right that it can be super awkward to have people think about their lot in life for no reason. (I hate, for instance, "I swept my auburn hair out of my eyes"... Like, you were NOT thinking about the color of your own hair. I should probably do a follow-up post about this phenomenon...
But yeah, in brief, it's a matter of filling us in, but realistically to the POV character's experience. Notice how "no one in living memory had ever seen a Japanese face" is doing that, above. Plus, of course, you could have a POV that's not at all about what the character is thinking in that one moment. Like, "She let the door to the locker room slam shut. This was the varsity basketball locker room, which she'd first seen on her 8th grade tour of the school..."
Bekah, would you mind if I quoted this question in my next newsletter? I'm going to do a Part 2...
Feel free! Looking forward to part 2 :)
I've been guilty of "mysterious, cryptic, and vague," which was the most important feedback you gave me in our Novel in a Year session. I'm about to find out if I still have that problem in the StoryBoard workshop 😳
I was really enjoying gradually learning bits and pieces about Amelia!
Ha... She DOES deserve her own book.
Btw, I hope you caught the New Yorker article (Aug 7) "Hidden Depths" by Rachel Monroe. Some of the True Crimers involved are right out of "I Have Some Questions for You."
Perfect and perfectly helpful!
In the first chapter of my novel-in-progress, a character shows up in Patagonia. The character is never named, the reader only knows they are American. This is supposed to be the big mystery here, "who is the american?" is a question throughout the novel that gets answered at the end. I'm worried that this will feel disorienting or cheap, because I am not really naming any visual characteristics of this character. How do I evaluate this?
I really can't answer since I haven't read this, but the questions I'd ask myself (and an outside reader) are: 1) Is this confusing? 2) Is this annoying (i.e., does it feel desperate or taunting)?; and 3) Does this make sense given the novel's point of view? ... But I'd also just caution you that it's hard to pull of a story where the biggest mystery (and/or the biggest surprise) is only for the reader, and not for the characters.
Thank you!! Those are good questions to think about :)
LOVE this! The teacher in me feels very seen. Question: Do you ever actually say to the class “there is as difference between successful mystery and annoying mystery?”
Being clever rather than writing honestly will mess you up every time. And people forget that the failure mode of clever is asshole.