: Re: Can I make a character make a philosophic observation or say their opinion, even if it's unnecessary for the plot/story? I have a character in my story who has the habit of making philosophic

@Pierce369

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Everything you put in a story should have a purpose. What that purpose is can be flexible.

Your reader's attention span is limited, and should not be wasted unnecessarily. Everything you put in a story should serve a purpose. But the list of purposes is long. Even if a piece isn't advancing the plot it can be exploring a character, or outlining a theme of the story, or setting a scene.

If a piece can fulfill several purposes at once (e.g. letting a character describe a location can provide setting information and character information at the same time) that's even better.

Your philosophical observations sound like an excellent place to develop character. It's not enough to say that a this character likes philosophizing and leave it at that. Why does this character choose this particular moment to interject this particular detail? How do the other characters react?

A particularly entertaining philosophic observation can in theory be it's own purpose. But this is dangerous, because not all readers will be entertained by the same things. I can guarantee that at least one reader will hate your philosophizing character, and will not be entertained in the slightest by their musings - if those musings don't have other relevance you will alienate this reader the more of them you add.

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