Opacity

[mrissa]

It is frustrating, in the middle of drafting a story, to realize that not only will there be a substantial number of people who don't get it, but that the not-getting is built into the story -- that you can't make it clearer to those people without making it a different story. A completely different story in nearly every regard, and a worse one.

For me, it's still worthwhile writing stories like this. I tend to sell them eventually, because the people who get them like them, and there is no story that's for everyone. I've gotten better at spotting opacity over the last few years, I think. I used to be taken by surprise when I would get rejection letters on certain stories where the editor was confused about what, exactly, had happened, because it always seemed very clear and linear to me. I'm not sure it's an unmitigated gift, being able to tell, because the determination is usually followed by a bit of thrashing: "But what if I -- but surely they --" But no. On we go with it; it's the story we've got.

(Happily, this is "Five Ways to Ruin a First Date," a short story I started a few weeks ago and have worked on in bits and pieces since, not one of the novels or anything large and time-sinky like that.)

The dog is extremely clingy today. She isn't on my lap right now, but she has made it clear that she reserves the right whenever she pleases, and will nudge the back of my knee with her cold little nose until I turn my chair so she can jump up without worrying about hitting the desk. She doesn't want me to go anywhere. Absent something coming up, that suits me fine.

Comments

[songwind.livejournal.com]

I worry about that sort of thing sometimes. Usually I can get one of the people in the house to read at least part of what I'm writing and let me know if it makes sense.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes, the value of another pair of eyes is undeniable. But sometimes the story makes sense to some people and not to others. Have you ever read anything where someone said, "I didn't get it," and you didn't see how they could have missed it? This happens a fair amount.

[songwind.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

This is my worst fault in my writing: I think something is perfectly clear and it just isn't.

Luckily, Jan is a terrific reader and points these things out, and I can generally fix them. But not always, of course.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yah, I get, "I didn't get what happened with X" in novel critiques a lot, but mostly there I can say, "Oh, right, X! I will make that clearer." The sort of thing I'm talking about today is the sort of story where you will get e-mails months after it's published from people who didn't like the aliens, and there were no aliens in the story. Or from people who didn't notice the aliens were there and wondered why the story was published as SF. Because they just missed it, and there's nothing to be done about it, because spelling out, "THIS MAN IS NOT AN ALIEN, YOU TOTALLY MADE THAT UP, MOVE ALONG WITH YOUR BUSINESS," does not improve a story, mostly.

Maybe I am the only person who has this problem.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Oh, no. This is exactly what I meant. Someone says I don't literally understand what is going on in this entire story. Then I explain, explain, explain until I feel as if I'm being WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too obvious.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Even I have had this experience.

Similarly - though not the same thing - I used to do some performance story-telling of original stories. I had one in which everything about the narrating character (from my point of view, at least) screamed "FAE FAE FAE" without ever quite saying so. After I performed it one time, I had someone come up to me, bubbling with enthusiasm, to tell me, "I loved your story! It was so great! I knew right away it was about a dragon! That was so fabulous!" And I looked at her for a sec while my mind whirred, and then I grinned and told her how glad I was she'd liked it. Who was to argue, anyhow? I was lucky, anyhow - she didn't get the story I meant to tell, but she didn't feel like she 'didn't get it,' anyhow. That's luck.

I often feel like I don't get stories, and have to have them laboriously explained to me. What frustrates me is not being able to tell the difference between the things I am supposed to be able to figure out but didn't, and the things which are supposed to be mysteries. It makes me feel very stoopid. I get by, though, and so will your readers.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Not sure, but I suspect those are the stories that get squee-age from those who do get them.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I love stories where halfway through or a week later, I stop and say, "Oh." But I don't find many of them, and I certainly can't write them without making a production of the surprise twist ending.