3 ms·
I read the first book and I liked it conceptually. Sometimes I feel like sci-fi authors try too hard to follow "show don't tell" [1] when it comes to characters
by _greim_ 8y ago
I read the first book and I liked it conceptually. Sometimes I feel like sci-fi authors try too hard to follow "show don't tell" [1] when it comes to characters' emotional state, but this author tells us at every point explicitly how astounded or confused the character is, almost to an absurd degree.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show,_don%27t_tell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show,_don%27t_tell
- opaque 8y agoI'm reading the three body problem right now and I find the declarative (Tell) nature of characters emotional states and descriptions ("beautiful young girl") to be a real weakness. In reality both are a highly nuanced and subjective. I would say my own emotional state is rarely definable as a single adjective with a direct cause. I'm trying to ascribe it to translation and cultural difference, but it really does just seem like poor or childish writing. I'll have to read some other Chinese fiction as a control experiment.