: Re: Why is having too many symbols a bad idea? I'm writing a speech on using symbols, and I've just made the statement that you should generally stick with one, maybe two, symbols that span the

@Phylliss352

Vote Up Vote Down

I'd just like to add to the other good answers.

One of the major factors is complexity. If there are too many things for the reader to keep track of, it can be annoying and confusing. At some point, most readers will just start to ignore the details or abandon the whole story.

Fairy early on, I gave up completely on trying to keep everything straight in Orphan Black, but the rest was strong enough to keep me engaged.

I loved the Dune series when I read it, but I got completely lost and gave up on the SyFy movie version I saw years later when I had almost no idea who was who and how they were all related.

As @Mike .C.Ford notes, sometimes you can combine symbols or other things into one greater whole and that reduces complexity. The reader can delve into all the details or just "say", "That's just another piece of the puzzle." and skim over it.

The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are the Trinity, Harry Potter needs to find a bunch of horcruxes, but they add up to the life force/power of Voldemort. A hero's quest may have many tasks/phases, but with one goal.

The Fifth Element has a bunch of symbolism (and all sorts of other subcontexts!) in it, but it's all woven into such an organic whole that it never slows things down a bit. They're all there, but you don't "have to" analyse them for the story to work.

I don't usually read mysteries, but they need lots of details and interrelated facts, some of which may have symbolic components (like in Angels and Demons). That's one genre where the readers will actually expect or even demand complexity.

(0)

Login to post a comment!