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| Dreamflower's Musings by Dreamflower | 2 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 4/21/2010 |
| Thanks for these interesting ruminations! There is a lot of food for thought in this essay. I would suggest a third layer, which sits between the two you have described, and I would call it the structural level. By this I mean issues concerning the crafting of the story, like contrasted or mirrored plot elements, pacing, character development, Leitmotifs etc. These are story-external in that the characters would have no knowledge of them. For example, when the party encounter the frozen trolls and Sam recites his poem, they are not aware that the purpose of the scene is comic relief. But unlike the story-external issues you mention, these aspects are accessible to the reader from the text alone without reference to any external sources. We need not know anything about Tolkien as a person to be able to analyse the way the stories are crafted. Author Reply: This is true, those are also story-external reasons. I touched on that briefly when I mentioned how JRRT deliberately keeps us away from Strider's POV during the journey from Bree to Rivendell. This is a matter of plot and character development alone, though not one we can appreciate on a first reading. There are many times when his purpose of theme or plot or tone are served by certain events or characterizations-- and it falls to us to figure out why they "really" happened, which is where the fic comes in. But you are right that these elements are an intrinsic part of the craft of Story, and not outside elements the way some other things are. | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 10 on 4/20/2010 |
| I love this look at how we write and choose the elements that we include in our writing. Most thought-provoking! Author Reply: Thank you! That's just what I intended! | |