[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 44 KB, 811x499, 1304959677270.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2206350 No.2206350 [Reply] [Original]

>be reading detective-book
>first chapter is ten pages that tells the story of a guy who walks around in the woods and then gets killed by being shot in the back by guy he doesn´t see
>the chapter talks about all kinds of shit, like what the environment looks like, what personality the guy has, etc.
>later it is revealed to the reader that none of that was relevant to the story
>also, none of it was relevant for figuring out who the killer was
>realize that the entire chapter could have been summed up in a single sentence: "Once upon a time a guy walked around in a forest and then he got shot in the back by someone."
>realize that the only reason the chapter is ten pages long is because the writer thought it would be awkward to write something shorter
>mfw

>> No.2206351

>>2206350
Read better fiction?

Dunno how to help you through this painful and significant moment in your life, bro.

>> No.2206356

>>2206351
I´m just sayin

>> No.2206359

>>2206356
Cool, cool, cool.

So....

Welp.

>> No.2206361

Just, you know, chillin in this thread...

Yeah.

So.... yeah.

>> No.2206362

Maybe it was allegorical? Or there's more to the story than whodunit.

>> No.2206383

>>2206350

99% of everything in every story is superfluous, and you could reduce every story to a few sentences. But that would be boring.

>> No.2206405

>>2206383
Not really, because if things are added to keep the astory from getting boring that it isn´t superfluous. The shit in the detective-book was nowhere even close to entertaining.

>> No.2206423

Even parts that don't "advance the main storyline" (if any) can be enjoyable, either adding to the atmosphere or the characters or being entertaining on their own, whatever. But I think I get where op is coming from; sometimes it feels as if the writer just wanted to put a few pages in here or there half-heartedly, only for the sake of adding pages, and not because he thought they would be enjoyable or because he wanted to express something.

>Well, now that X is done, the next thing that has to happen in the plot is that Y. But Y, only by itself, would be pretty short... I know: I'll write a bunch of random filler between X and Y.

Said filler can be enjoyable too, sure, even if its origin or intent was dubious. But most of the time, well take a look at Fantasy Trilogy II: The Journey Between Towns: The Shenanigans

>> No.2206470
File: 12 KB, 241x230, 1293398521240.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2206470

Nah, the author prolly did that to get some emotions. For the reader to like the guy walking around in the woods, so it's tougher when he gets shot. So you really feel the murderer is a bad guy. Stephen King really liked to do that. Sometimes to extremes, I'll always remember the old black guy in "Shining" who receives this mental call for help from the kid, travels through some states, fights his way through a horrible way snowstorm, finally reaches the hotel and immediately gets killed.

>> No.2206783

>>2206470
>Try to make audience care for a guy in a single chapter

ISHYGDDT