Parentheses in Fiction

Mitch wrote:
I've been trained to write news pieces when I was a student. Most of the approaches that I've learned are those that tend to box the story (pyramid, inverted pyramid, and scattered).

When I shifted to fiction writing, I was faced with a problem: since news writing is basically stating facts straight out, I had the tendency to leave out some details that readers do not usually need in a news piece like emotions, background, weather, ambience, etc. I tried to fix that by starting to elaborate on those mentioned details.

But like Percy, I got stuck with the question of 'how much should I reveal?' Your entry and the entry's comments proved to be very useful in enlightening me. Now I have a very simple question. I know that using the parenthesis is not that adviseable as it breaks the flow of thought (which I sometimes tend to do--much like this), but there must be some ways that a parenthesis could be used to prove a point. What do you suppose are the best ways to use the parenthesis in writing stories?

This is really a question about the persona of the narrator. If the narrator is some nameless individual writing in the third person, the parenthesis is a hazard. It reminds us that someone is telling us this story, and that distracts us from enjoying the flow of events as if we were part of them. And if it's just a matter of explaining things like the weather or the mood of the people in the scene, all we can really tell our readers is what our POV character happens to notice.

But if it's a first-person narrator, then parentheses are perfectly OK...if the narrator is the kind of person who would often interrupt himself to explain some detail. In this case, it becomes a way of illustrating the narrator's character as a slightly flighty, scatterbrained individual.

But let's consider what it is that the narrator needs to reveal: information that the reader needs to understand the nature of the conflict going on in the story. Do we need to know on page 2 that the heroine's father (who works in the steel mill down by the river) is an old curmudgeon and a bit of a drunk?

Chances are we can establish all three of those facts without bothering with parentheses. Instead we just show him coming home late and drunk:

"Dad, you stopped at the tavern again."

"What if I did? Goddam it, a man works all day with--"

"--With molten steel, he's got a right to wet his whistle and relax at the end of the day. I know, Dad, but it's almost 8:00. Dinner's been waiting since 7:00."

See what I mean? If we need to add some afterthought because the information is important, then it's important enough to build into a scene. And we don't need to rush into it. A novel is a big, spacious place. You don't need to roll out all the exposition right away, any more than we need to put all our furniture on the front porch. Save it for when you need it...and when you need it, dramatize it instead of shoving it into parentheses.

Comments

[David Irwin]

Excellent advice, I think. Thank you.

[Gofran]

My continious problem is not being able to go beyond first paragraph of a short story. My beginings are, from people's opinions, are pretty good, but i can't seem to continue afrter a while. Can you suggest something?

[Idetrorce]

very interesting, but I don't agree with you
Idetrorce