Hee! I get so sensitive about this because it's so hard to do. I've been reading this ms somebody asked me to read and halfway through a 300 page book the main character (such a Mary Sue) decides to look her son over and reflect on how he has a great sense of humor and brown eyes etc. It's like...um, what? It's not even the first time we've seen him in the book--and even if it was, you don't usually reflect that way on people you know.
But anyway, I'm always wondering about stuff like that. Recently I was reading a book written in letters and I was so sensitive over passages where I thought, "Would you really write this in a letter, or are you just trying to make the letters into a novel and you need description?"
At work I've gotten so used to watching for that in some sense, because we're not supposed to let anybody know anything they wouldn't know or see something they wouldn't see, so they can't really reflect on what anyone is thinking. JKR generally tries to go for physical cues (Harry had the feeling James wouldn't have stopped playing with his Snitch for anyone but Sirius...), but a lot of amateurs especially will go for "looks" that convey all this information you couldn't get. I remember one H/D fic from years ago where I specifically complimented the author on the way I thought she very realistically had Draco, the pov-character, catch signs that there was something going on with Harry without knowing at all what was going on.
Anyway, this is rambly, but I do always feel so self-conscious about info-dumping where it feels like it's written in neon: WORLD-BUILDING HERE! CHARACTER WORK! STUFF YOU'LL NEED TO KNOW LATER!!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-03-06 09:40 pm (UTC)But anyway, I'm always wondering about stuff like that. Recently I was reading a book written in letters and I was so sensitive over passages where I thought, "Would you really write this in a letter, or are you just trying to make the letters into a novel and you need description?"
At work I've gotten so used to watching for that in some sense, because we're not supposed to let anybody know anything they wouldn't know or see something they wouldn't see, so they can't really reflect on what anyone is thinking. JKR generally tries to go for physical cues (Harry had the feeling James wouldn't have stopped playing with his Snitch for anyone but Sirius...), but a lot of amateurs especially will go for "looks" that convey all this information you couldn't get. I remember one H/D fic from years ago where I specifically complimented the author on the way I thought she very realistically had Draco, the pov-character, catch signs that there was something going on with Harry without knowing at all what was going on.
Anyway, this is rambly, but I do always feel so self-conscious about info-dumping where it feels like it's written in neon: WORLD-BUILDING HERE! CHARACTER WORK! STUFF YOU'LL NEED TO KNOW LATER!!