Trusting the reader
Sorry, I don't mean to jam up the place with posts but this is another topic I think bears discussion.
How much should you trust to the reader?
One of the things I love about the show is that they trust the viewers to draw their own conclusions. Many of the great writers in this fandom do the same thing. They don't spell everything out, they trust that the reader will "get there" without describing ever minute detail and transcribing evey thought from every character.
I do tend to over describe and quite possibly put too much in when I should trust that the readers can get there on their own. I should trust that my story is telling the story and that I don't need the Greek chorus. Then again, I have been accused of leaving too much out.
I'm sure this depends on your readership (is that a word? :() and you can't please all of the people all of the time but how do you find that balance? How do you know you've included enough when you already know where you are going and what is going to happen?
Or how do you know you've included too much and need to trim or rephrase so as not to spell it all out and insult the reader's intelligence?
How much should you trust to the reader?
One of the things I love about the show is that they trust the viewers to draw their own conclusions. Many of the great writers in this fandom do the same thing. They don't spell everything out, they trust that the reader will "get there" without describing ever minute detail and transcribing evey thought from every character.
I do tend to over describe and quite possibly put too much in when I should trust that the readers can get there on their own. I should trust that my story is telling the story and that I don't need the Greek chorus. Then again, I have been accused of leaving too much out.
I'm sure this depends on your readership (is that a word? :() and you can't please all of the people all of the time but how do you find that balance? How do you know you've included enough when you already know where you are going and what is going to happen?
Or how do you know you've included too much and need to trim or rephrase so as not to spell it all out and insult the reader's intelligence?