The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - The wrong kind of details: the components of wonder (aka lmp's rant)

Kuruharan · 08-04-2002, 10:50 AM

And, so, he has come again. Bringing levity and a keen wit (to say nothing of large vocabulary) to save us all from becoming too boring.

Hail and Fair Weather good Squatter! Long time no see!
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I thought that perhaps I should also illustrate an instance of "appropriate" use of background details, rather than just gripe about authors that failed.

When the hobbits and Aragorn were encamped at Weathertop there is a very good use of "background information" that both fits with the place and time in the story and serves to give foreshadowing of Aragorn's true calling. While I personally don't feel that the song in this passage is the Professor's best verse it serves to cast back to a prior time, and Aragorn is the link between past and present.

And more importantly, the passage is fairly brief.

Somehow it seems that if the glimpse into the distant past is brief it makes it more real. It tells you something, but you get the feeling that there is much more to that story to be told.

On the other hand, if you stop for eighteen pages to explain exactly why the Supreme High Muckidy Muckness of ten-thousand years ago felt obliged to slaughter all the members of his herem because one of his wives accidently stepped on his mighty moss-covered heirloom, that sense of mystery is lost.

Not only that, but you lose sight of the fact that there are five Nazgul creeping up the hill about to pounce on you. Long digressions into the "pastant dist" disrupt the flow of the story that is actually being told. You lose that connection that you had with the plot, and so when the Nazgul pounce you're not going to be "into it" as much.

[ August 04, 2002: Message edited by: Kuruharan ]

08-04-2002, 10:50 AM	#10
Kuruharan Regal Dwarven Shade Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: A Remote Dwarven Hold Posts: 3,593	And, so, he has come again. Bringing levity and a keen wit (to say nothing of large vocabulary) to save us all from becoming too boring. Hail and Fair Weather good Squatter! Long time no see! --------------------------------- I thought that perhaps I should also illustrate an instance of "appropriate" use of background details, rather than just gripe about authors that failed. When the hobbits and Aragorn were encamped at Weathertop there is a very good use of "background information" that both fits with the place and time in the story and serves to give foreshadowing of Aragorn's true calling. While I personally don't feel that the song in this passage is the Professor's best verse it serves to cast back to a prior time, and Aragorn is the link between past and present. And more importantly, the passage is fairly brief. Somehow it seems that if the glimpse into the distant past is brief it makes it more real. It tells you something, but you get the feeling that there is much more to that story to be told. On the other hand, if you stop for eighteen pages to explain exactly why the Supreme High Muckidy Muckness of ten-thousand years ago felt obliged to slaughter all the members of his herem because one of his wives accidently stepped on his mighty moss-covered heirloom, that sense of mystery is lost. Not only that, but you lose sight of the fact that there are five Nazgul creeping up the hill about to pounce on you. Long digressions into the "pastant dist" disrupt the flow of the story that is actually being told. You lose that connection that you had with the plot, and so when the Nazgul pounce you're not going to be "into it" as much. [ August 04, 2002: Message edited by: Kuruharan ] __________________ ...finding a path that cannot be found, walking a road that cannot be seen, climbing a ladder that was never placed, or reading a paragraph that has no... Last edited by Kuruharan; 12-14-2004 at 10:23 PM.