gavintonks
Maester
true but the question that remains is who is the arbiter of too much? it is a bunch of readers who accept it over the ones who do not as at the end of the day most sales are word of mouth that really make the book exceptional
I recently finished a book called 'Galapagos', which was pretty much scifi, and to be honest, it was almost all telling.
I simply can't read a book that's basically all telling rather than showing. It's boring and gets annoying after a while - we shouldn't be told what a character is or isn't, we should get to know them after a while, otherwise it simple isn't interesting to read. Telling, when it becomes shoving facts down the author's throat, is very, very poor writing.
I think that's overly broad. If someone can pull off an entire book with telling, that's fine with me.
I'm yet to read The Great Gatsby and Lolita, however.
The thing with Gatsby and pretty much all of Fitgerald's writing is if you only read the surface you will be bored.
I've read some of his other work and enjoyed it, just not Gatsby as of yet. Though I have it marked down for this year some time.
Classics do generally have to be read on a different level than say, recent fantasy. And now I think we're getting off topic - could be an interesting discussion to run elsewhere? Though no idea what to call it.
My other point would be this: don't ever tell the reader what they ought to feel. Manipulate their feelings by the actions and words of the characters and the impact that has on other characters.
Agreed, feeling is the absolute worst thing you can Tell. Any words like "was angry" strike me as a cop-out, unless it's a major point you can give a multipronged description like "He stared... how COULD she... he clenched the table... he'd never been so angry." --No, even there it just weakens the description.
Other things are worth Telling sometimes. Emotion, only if it's far far removed from the moment.
My other point would be this: don't ever tell the reader what they ought to feel. Manipulate their feelings by the actions and words of the characters and the impact that has on other characters.
I just wanted to note this bolded detail of The Dark One's quote. What the reader feels and what the character feels are not always the same thing. I sometimes - sometimes - have even felt that the character's feelings can even get in the way of the reader feeling the same moment. Anyways it's an important distinction to note.