tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010942979784569627.post7180340130151212729..comments2024-02-06T04:20:38.551-08:00Comments on Reading, Writing, Revising: Writers, Show Us Your Scenes!Lisa Ecksteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11469107523441985396noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010942979784569627.post-23662841910434857232011-10-26T16:16:50.112-07:002011-10-26T16:16:50.112-07:00Yeah, in the examples that led me to complaining a...Yeah, in the examples that led me to complaining about this, there either didn't seem to be a good reason to not show the scene, or the character describing the scene did it in an unrealistic and un-character-revealing way.<br /><br />I haven't read Despair, but I'm a big fan of unreliable narrators in general.Lisa Ecksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11469107523441985396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010942979784569627.post-25958802364412251282011-10-26T15:47:25.855-07:002011-10-26T15:47:25.855-07:00Exactly. A good writer could use this device to te...Exactly. A good writer could use this device to tell us something about the person narrating the scene. Or the narration could be inaccurate in interestingly confusing ways. But I imagine the ones you are complaining about don't do that. Have you read Nabokov's _Despair_? The whole book is based on the fact the narrator is, well, out of touch with reality.Henri Picciottohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06875198126877279937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010942979784569627.post-50509169155180334642011-10-26T15:08:14.610-07:002011-10-26T15:08:14.610-07:00There are definitely exceptions, and that's a ...There are definitely exceptions, and that's a good example. As with any guideline, when a writer really understands it and really understands why they aren't following it in a particular case, the results can be excellent.Lisa Ecksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11469107523441985396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6010942979784569627.post-9760633969379073672011-10-26T12:04:20.297-07:002011-10-26T12:04:20.297-07:00This is really good advice. It's too easy to g...This is really good advice. It's too easy to get caught up in other things and forget that you need to involve your audience -- show your work!<br /><br />But one small exception comes to mind, and that is when the pivotal scene which drives the plot is deliberately not shown, such as in the movie Reservoir Dogs (you never see the actual robbery around which the whole movie turns). This is a narrative device that challenges the characters, and therefore the author, to rise to the very challenge you've made in your post here -- to show what happened as vividly as possible through the eyes of the characters.corndoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03443614986182247779noreply@blogger.com