Selective past
Aug. 24th, 2008 04:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranI've been reading some Michael Ondaatje lately and thinking about ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
heleninwales's post about latest capture and her selective reporting of it.
One of the big advantages of using a viewpoint a long way distant from the events is the way you can selectively report on what happened, leaving only the details most crucial to the story. Michael Ondaatje does this quite well, especially with the use of flashbacks. Quite often, it's a double win - the flashbacks are vivid and immediate, so the story doesn't feel like its old and dusty, yet the past eye allows the author to omit an awful lot, the reader trusting that it will turn up when it's needed.
Yann Martel did the same thing in Life of Pi, using a framing device of the protagonist relating the events to the author a long time afterwards. It's the pruning that turns out to be important, looking back and telling the story, you can pick out the events and details that really matter for the story you are trying to tell. In Yann Martel's case, he can even show different details in different chapters, as he essays different aspects of the story.
A good trick to master, and something I'd like to work on some more. This might be just the voice I need to tell the clay boy story.
heleninwales's post about latest capture and her selective reporting of it. One of the big advantages of using a viewpoint a long way distant from the events is the way you can selectively report on what happened, leaving only the details most crucial to the story. Michael Ondaatje does this quite well, especially with the use of flashbacks. Quite often, it's a double win - the flashbacks are vivid and immediate, so the story doesn't feel like its old and dusty, yet the past eye allows the author to omit an awful lot, the reader trusting that it will turn up when it's needed.
Yann Martel did the same thing in Life of Pi, using a framing device of the protagonist relating the events to the author a long time afterwards. It's the pruning that turns out to be important, looking back and telling the story, you can pick out the events and details that really matter for the story you are trying to tell. In Yann Martel's case, he can even show different details in different chapters, as he essays different aspects of the story.
A good trick to master, and something I'd like to work on some more. This might be just the voice I need to tell the clay boy story.
