Does anyone have a recommendation for how to describe an event that none of my characters witnesses (indeed, that none of them are capable of witnessing)? I shudder at the prospect of an epilogue to my WIP, but I see very few ways to inform readers that an event I have been foreshadowing does indeed occur at the end of the book. Ideas?
Posted by Edmund (Member # 2044) on :
Some info on the particulars would be helpful. Why can't anyone be present to witness this event? Does this event not have effects that can be seen elsewhere, confriming that the event has taken place?
Posted by punahougirl84 (Member # 1731) on :
Report in the media? Depending on the chronology, a history text? A messenger shows up?
I'm assuming that even though your chars don't/can't witness it, it impacts them - you have a reason for including it, right? How does it affect them, and how would they find out where the effects came from?
Posted by Worth the Wait (Member # 2155) on :
Hola, chica. Uh... Is this mysterious event at the end of the whole thing, or at the end of one of the novellas? I think I know what you're talking about... Is there ANYONE around to witness this? If not, you may have to resort to the dreaded epilogue. :P
Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :
In a novel I am reading right now, there are frequent references to a character (a soldier) and event that the writer must feel is important to bring in as background information. She does so by presenting that soldier as the only person from a backwater who ever achieved fame. The current central character (the ensign) is fascinated by the soldier to the extent that learning about him is almost a hobby for her. The author makes the ensign stand out as a personality by including such quirks, and every time that the ensign learns a bit more about the soldier, we also learn a bit more about the events that occurred long ago. It works very well.
Posted by djvdakota (Member # 2002) on :
So this event would be the very last chapter of the story?
Wow. That is a problem.
Maybe a clear POV shift to some being who witnesses it--perhaps even an animal, a bird flying overhead? That's something I've seen done before. The book I'm currently reading does that a few times, but fails to clearly define the POV right up front to tell me that a shift has occurred. It threw me off some and bothered me a little bit--though as a READER I might not even have noticed, but as a writer studying the craft I noticed it right off.
Still, doing this right at the end???
Hmmm. Dunno.
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
If it is the very last thing that happens in the book I have a suggestion. *Start* the book in an omniscient point of view prologue that begins this foreshadowing and *end* it in the same omniscient POV. This builds symmetry and doesn't have it coming out of left field.
The other suggestions are good, too. Switching to the POV of someone who is there is a good idea but I don't like to bring in a new POV character in the very last chapter of the book, so it might not be a bad idea to have them show up earlier if you do use them.
Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :
I too have a scene that occurs in my current WIP that nobody witnesses because, well, everyone present dies during the scene.
In my first draft I wrote the scene in omniscient. I'm considering switching away from this for my revision, and merely having my other characters listening to the two characters present in this scene talking to each other over a radio link, until it goes quiet. It ought to be quite clear what's happened, and the bareness of it should make for a startling and memorable final scene.
Posted by Jeraliey (Member # 2147) on :
Well, I guess I should have been a bit more specific when I described my problem. Basically, I'm collapsing the universe that I've created. My WIP is composed of three "books" (that's in parenthases because it's really only one book in three parts), and the collapse happens at the very end of the third book.
Staving off the collapse is actually a very important part of the books, but only for a few characters (no one else really believes it, etc.) So, during the three books, I believe I will have described what happens at the end, in the form of my characters' theories and projections. However, I would like to imply (without overtly restating) that the collapse actually does happen. My characters are capable of witnessing the first stages of collapse, but after that, they just cease to exist...along with everything else.
If I were to do the omniscient prologue/epilogue thing, I would feel compelled to do one between each book, rather than only at the very beginning and very end. I think that might be overkill. I also have a potential of doing a LOT of POV shifts, and I'd like to keep that down as much as possible outside what I already have planned.
My question is this. Can I describe the event in detail throughout the work and trust readers to understand the end by describing only the first steps of the collapse? Or should I whack them over the head with a 2x4?
Posted by Jeraliey (Member # 2147) on :
Oh, and I just realized that the book sounds really depressing as I just described it. I believe the ending is appropriate, and is not as hopeless as it sounds. I know that seems weird, but it's too complicated to describe in full detail right now. I promise it's not a total downer!
Posted by Jules (Member # 1658) on :
I would leave it after showing the first signs of the collapse as has been predicted, preferably at some early stage of the story.
Perhaps you could show one of your non-believer characters coming to believe that the collapse is about to happen? This should have the effect of convincing any sceptical readers that it is, too.
Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :
I'm familliar with a theory that goes something like this...
The universe goes through a cycle of expansion and collapse. Everything gets pulled back towards a cosmic blender, Frappe, the lid comes off and everything starts expanding again.
If this is a direction you are going, you could make the last chapter a scene from the new universe.
Otherwise, I like the idea of showing just the beginning of the collapse.
Do you remember that little story Edmund posted in F&F about Pompei. Readers know what is going to happen so he can make the story short and sweet (and brilliant ).
If you have described and forshadowed everything properly, your readers will get the point with very little exposition at the end.
Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :
I think reading Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Nine Billion Names of God" may be helpful.
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
I think if you clearly explain what will happen when the universe collapses, and be sure to make it clear what the "signs" of the beginning of that collapse are, then when your characters experience those clearly described "signs," your readers will know what is coming.
One of the most chilling and horrific reading experiences I have ever had occurred when I read near the end of Guy Gavriel Kay's book TIGANA. Please bear with me as I try to explain it without spoiling the story.
In that book, Kay had described a terrible thing happening to a minor character fairly early on in the book. As a reader, I considered it just part of the development of one of the main characters and the way that character did things--it seemed to be more or less a "throw away" scene.
When I got near the end of the book, though, Kay made it very clear that this wasn't a "throw away" scene, but the answer to a riddle that had existed unspoken through the entire story. And I experienced an epiphany that still chills me when I think about it.
You may want to read the book yourself and then reread it to study how Kay set the thing up so that the reader's epiphany had such impact. If you can do something like that in your story, it would be way cool.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
Hmmm...for me fiction never really rises to the level of being chilling and horrific. But I understand what you're talking about.
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
Well, the more I read and the more I know about writing, the less likely that is to happen for me, too.
I remember one other time something similar (in the sense of being a bit of a shock) happened to me when I was reading.
I was so involved with the character who was running for his life near the end of LORD OF THE FLIES, that when he ran out onto the beach (I don't want to spoil this, either), the point of view shift made my head spin. I was amazed at what a difference it made in how I perceived everything that was going on. (If you've read the book, please let me know if you know what I'm talking about, and if it affected any of you that way, too.)
Posted by Jeraliey (Member # 2147) on :
Absolutely. Suddenly the terror just turned into little boys playing games again. It was really fascinating.
Posted by wetwilly (Member # 1818) on :
One of my favorite books ever, Kathleen, and that POV shift is a definite head-spinner. I would definitely disagree with Jeraliey, though; it did NOT turn into little boys playing games again in my head. It just drove home the comparison of the messed-up little kids to "civilized" society. Possibly the most disturbing book I've ever read.
Posted by Jeraliey (Member # 2147) on :
Oh, I didn't mean that the entire book was only child's play. But from the new POV(I guess without telling who it was), that was how it seemed. And I thought it was incredible that the author could portray something as horribly dire and then as so trivial in the space of what, two pages? I was also struck by the civilization aspect, but not quite as much.
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
I understand what you mean Jeraliey because that's what I got in the new POV--who didn't know anything about the life-or-death situation.
Anyway, if you ever want to see how to manage a POV shift to good effect, read LORD OF THE FLIES.
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