h a l f b a k e r y
Bone to the bad.
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Dialogue passage in novels *start out* user friendly, with lots of "...Jack said" 's and "...she replied" 's. But after a few lines of that, the author wants you to be "totally captured by the action", so he starts leaving out all speaker tags whatsoever. A page later, I have no idea which person is
saying what. Then I have to go back and re-read, and usually end up penciling notes in the margin labeling who's saying each line.
There are plenty of annotated book editions out there, so how 'bout one that labels each line "R:" for Raskolnikov and "S" for Sviatoslav, when two people are talking?
Annotation:
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J: “I went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.”
J: “I went up the hill, too.”
J: “I fell down and broke my crown.”
J: “I came tumbling after.” |
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Hmmm. Nice idea, however you won't know you need it until you get there, by which time you've (presumably) already bought/borrowed the non-annotated edition. So I think I'd rather just do what I usually do and re-read, remembering to pay attention this time. |
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Hemingway is spinning in his grave. But not because of
this. He went on for pages at a time, not letting you
know who's saying what. I think he got lost himself once
after a long stretch of this. |
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