[Dragaera] Broken dialogues in Dzur

[Jon_Lincicum at stream.com]

"Peter H. Granzeau" <pgranzeau at cox.net> 
Sent by: dragaera-bounces at dragaera.info
08/28/06 09:27 AM

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Re: [Dragaera] Broken dialogues in Dzur




>At 10:56 AM 8/28/2006, Jon_Lincicum at stream.com wrote:
>
>>hmm. Maybe I'm weird, but neither of these really bother me. It's
>>relatively clear from context who's saying what, and I think it 
preferable
>>to have it this way, rather than interrupting the flow of conversation
>>with "Kragar said" and "I replied" and so forth.
>
>I feel that when what one person says is broken into two quotations 
>as with Kragar above, that this one instance could stand to have 
>something indicate that it is the same person speaking:
>
>"His mistress is one of them."
>"Ah."  Kragar paused.  "How is--"
>"By gaining control of South Adrilankha."
>
>Something similar in the other instance.

Well, if I had been writing this exchange, I'd probably have used this 
method.

I think Steve likes the whipsaw back and forth method better. It's a 
question of style, and while it does add a touch of confusion to the 
exchange, I think the end result is still comprehensible. 

Given the overall quality of the stories SKZB tells, I'm willing to 
forgive him some of his stylistic quirks.

I also appreciate the fact that he never seems too worried about "dumbing 
down" his dialogue. I'd rather have to re-read some of the exchanges a few 
times to get them, in lieu of having explanatory overkill in the other 
direction.

Writers that consistently underestimate the intelligence of their readers 
get on my nerves. SKZB doesn't have this problem.

Majikjon