Current Stresses In My Life (Gabrielle)
March 30, 2009 by sharppointythings
The way I see it there are roughly three styles of revealing information in a book. There’s when the reader knows less than the viewpoint character and will periodically need to be explained to. There’s when the reader knows as much as the viewpoint character and they figure things out together. And then there’s what I like to call the Timothy Zahn style of writing when the reader figures things out way before the viewpoint character does. In this case you the reader (or, really, I the reader) will frequently end up yelling at the characters “No! You idiot! It’s right there in front of you!” and so on. But, of course, they never listen.
Really, I don’t know why I read these books. The stress of the current book I’m reading comes from an age old gang war between an alien race that is threatening all of New York City and from a couple who’s marriage is only okay and who don’t know how to talk to each other. So they get dropped in the middle of this war with no concept of what’s going on (though I could explain it if they just listened to me) and with no practice working together.
And no matter how loudly I yell it never seems to help. I’m giving them helpful hints and great advice at the top of my lungs, but nothing changes. It’s like they can’t hear me or something. Maybe I should yell in a New York accent. Maybe that would help.
Try swearing at them. I think that’s the main way New Yorkers communicate with each other.
I use the swearing approach when dealing with Dell representatives when they are giving me bad customer service, which pretty much describes every experience that I’ve ever had with them. (I’m joking about the swearing thing, but I’ve had at least five interactions with Dell over the past ten days that have made me feel like swearing.)
If you enjoy this style of writing you need to read both “The Scarlet Pimpernel” by Baroness Emmuska Orczy (though it is both style 1 and 3) and “Magnus” by Sigmund Brouwer.
Now, when you say “enjoy” do you mean “get so mad at some of the characters I wish I could enter the story and tell them off”?
I have read The Scarlet Pimpernel and remember frequently wanting to strangle several people. At the same time, in fact. Repeatedly.
I have not yet read Magnus. You see, it was at the Lansberry house and I never quite managed to get it walk down the street to me. Perhaps I should redouble my efforts.
Gabrielle