: Re: When can You Pause the Story and Speak Directly to the Reader? Note: This question was previously about breaking the fourth wall. I discovered that my interpretation of that phrase was wrong.

When breaking it is fun.

Narrators don't so much break the fourth wall as sit on it and give you the play by play. It's characters that break the fourth wall because they aren't expected to be self aware. Unless a character is a narrator. "Call me Ishmael".

Truly breaking the fourth wall is an act that subverts the suspension of disbelief and ends up reinforcing it by shining a light on it.

It most certainly exists in novels. I remember a fantasy novel that talked about a powerful wizard with the power to perceive all that is hidden. When the narrator took us to his chambers and started describing the scene, the wizard looked up and asked his companion if he heard someone describing their clothing. The narrator quickly took us elsewhere and acted unnerved by the experience.

Load Full (0)

: Is there a hack to bring out your "true" voice? I've just approved my typeset manuscript and re-reading the book, I'm aware that it sounds very far away from my internal voice. Whilst it has

@BetL639

Load Full 3 Comments

: What's the effect of placing "of course" at the beginning or at the end of the sentence? Example from my writing: Not everything was rainbow and roses, of course. Sometimes rain would

@BetL639

Load Full 3 Comments

: Is it bad/distracting to mix dialogue and action too much? One of the answers to this question movitated me to ask this. I don't agree 100% with the answerer, however, I think he has good

@BetL639

Load Full 1 Comments

: Too much is when you start adding in elements that have nothing to do with the story except for just adding gore/murder/death/fighting/ etc. You didn't need to kill off that person to further

: Re: When can You Pause the Story and Speak Directly to the Reader? Note: This question was previously about breaking the fourth wall. I discovered that my interpretation of that phrase was wrong.

More posts by @BetL639

: Is there a hack to bring out your "true" voice? I've just approved my typeset manuscript and re-reading the book, I'm aware that it sounds very far away from my internal voice. Whilst it has

: What's the effect of placing "of course" at the beginning or at the end of the sentence? Example from my writing: Not everything was rainbow and roses, of course. Sometimes rain would

: Is it bad/distracting to mix dialogue and action too much? One of the answers to this question movitated me to ask this. I don't agree 100% with the answerer, however, I think he has good

: Too much is when you start adding in elements that have nothing to do with the story except for just adding gore/murder/death/fighting/ etc. You didn't need to kill off that person to further

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top