4 ms·

While this may be a part of the explanation, I don't think it's solely responsible. It's the responsibility of the writer to set up the reader with an understa

by d23 13y ago

While this may be a part of the explanation, I don't think it's solely responsible. It's the responsibility of the writer to set up the reader with an understanding of the point of what they are reading (i.e. "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them"). If you're going to make a long digression, it's respectful (and less counter-intuitive) to at least give the reader an inkling as to why you might be doing such a thing. Between the random cat video, the shoe photo that looks like it was nabbed from google images, and the sudden jump back to the story of Mellon's father, I genuinely started questioning the quality of what I was reading and whether I should be wasting my time.

marrs 13y ago
I thought I'd somehow managed to switch tabs and had to scroll back to the top to confirm that I hadn't.
EliRivers 13y ago
(i.e. "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them") That's what many subscribe to. There are schools of thought that disagree. Some readers enjoy not knowing where the text is going; done well, it makes the payoff significantly more pleasurable. What you said certainly does seem to be the fashion at the moment; the number of books whose first chapter is simply a dull forewarning of what each of the following chapters is going to be about certainly seems to have increased in recent years. I find it horrifically dull and generally skip that entirely. I see the same thing in presentations; it's just as dull (to me).
JonnieCache 13y ago
It's not exactly uncommon for a narrative to suddenly jump to a seemingly unrelated scene, only for the threads to weave themselves back together by the end. It's a standard literary trope. Fair enough, it is often a feature of bad writing. You should probably read this article though. His recent post about syria was excellent as well, and more concrete than this one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/the_baby_and_the_baath_water http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/the_baby_and_the...
- d23 13y ago
  I actually ended up going back and reading it and found it fascinating.

by d23 13y ago

marrs 13y ago

I thought I'd somehow managed to switch tabs and had to scroll back to the top to confirm that I hadn't.

EliRivers 13y ago

(i.e. "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them") That's what many subscribe to. There are schools of thought that disagree. Some readers enjoy not knowing where the text is going; done well, it makes the payoff significantly more pleasurable. What you said certainly does seem to be the fashion at the moment; the number of books whose first chapter is simply a dull forewarning of what each of the following chapters is going to be about certainly seems to have increased in recent years. I find it horrifically dull and generally skip that entirely. I see the same thing in presentations; it's just as dull (to me).

JonnieCache 13y ago

It's not exactly uncommon for a narrative to suddenly jump to a seemingly unrelated scene, only for the threads to weave themselves back together by the end. It's a standard literary trope. Fair enough, it is often a feature of bad writing. You should probably read this article though. His recent post about syria was excellent as well, and more concrete than this one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/the_baby_and_the_baath_water http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/the_baby_and_the...

d23 13y ago
I actually ended up going back and reading it and found it fascinating.