I’ve been assessing a thriller manuscript for a client. It’s good – it has legs. But every conversation is presented simply as dialogue, as in a playscript. I have been trying to explain why that’s not enough, why you have occasionally to show one or other character moving about, scratching their head, pulling a face, whatever – something the reader can see so they can picture the characters in the setting reacting to each other. In short:
Fiction is a visual medium.
Speaking of legs:
'Do you have the diamonds?'
ReplyDeleteLil' Rasputin shrugged. 'Maybe,' he said shrugging.
Stasia lit a cigerette. 'Don't play games with me bounty hunter.'
'If I'm playing,' he replied, lighting a cigar and drawing the smoke into his lungs, 'I'm playing to win.' He shrugged again, wryly.
Stasia shrugged and lit a cigerette. 'You can't win if you don't play,' she said wryly, shrugging.
Yes, I am a huge fan of Ivy Compton-Burnett too. But she didn't write thrillers. This one could do with the odd wry shrug, he said as he scratched his ear, rubbed his eyes, poured a drink and kicked the cat.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I lost the thread of the posting when I watched the Vid clip, he remarked wryly - snorting a line of coke and tap dancing to What Are We Going To Do About Maria.
ReplyDelete