Feedback Wanted
Not every message in a novel needs to be shown in full. Sometimes the useful part is the gap: what the character avoids saying, what gets trimmed out, what the formatting quietly admits.
A text thread with one unanswered line can do more work than three paragraphs of explanation. An email that starts too formally, then slips. Notes with a sentence crossed out. Those details tell on people.
I’m curious how others decide when to let the reader see the whole thing, and when to leave only the evidence of it.
A text thread with one unanswered line can do more work than three paragraphs of explanation. An email that starts too formally, then slips. Notes with a sentence crossed out. Those details tell on people.
I’m curious how others decide when to let the reader see the whole thing, and when to leave only the evidence of it.
Formatting can become a crutch if you let it. A crossed-out line or an omitted reply only works when the surrounding scene has enough pressure to make the absence matter. Otherwise it’s just decorative secrecy.
Sometimes the blunt version is stronger: show the whole message, then let the reader notice the lie in it. People are often most revealing when they are trying to be clear.
Sometimes the blunt version is stronger: show the whole message, then let the reader notice the lie in it. People are often most revealing when they are trying to be clear.