Not too complicated — I like to think of it as invitingly complex. With every successive viewing, there will always be another layer to peel back and examine.
To answer the question in your earlier entry: there is no such thing as too much. ("Too much is never enough," as MTV instructed us in the 1980s.) The trick is not simply to avoid overwhelming a reader, but presenting the richness and depth of a story in a way that can be reexamined at leiure. Much of it hinges on the reader's mood at a given time, and on what the reader wants out of a story.
(Is s/he reading for plot, for craft, or for subtext? These aspects can be devoured at once and/or explored on subsequent passes. As a reader, I would hope that a writer would make a story as complete as possible according to his or her vision, and then trust me to absorb it as I will.)
1 comment:
Not too complicated — I like to think of it as invitingly complex. With every successive viewing, there will always be another layer to peel back and examine.
To answer the question in your earlier entry: there is no such thing as too much. ("Too much is never enough," as MTV instructed us in the 1980s.) The trick is not simply to avoid overwhelming a reader, but presenting the richness and depth of a story in a way that can be reexamined at leiure. Much of it hinges on the reader's mood at a given time, and on what the reader wants out of a story.
(Is s/he reading for plot, for craft, or for subtext? These aspects can be devoured at once and/or explored on subsequent passes. As a reader, I would hope that a writer would make a story as complete as possible according to his or her vision, and then trust me to absorb it as I will.)
Post a Comment