You're reading a suspense novel, a mystery, a police procedural, perhaps a noir P.I. novel and in the midst of action and gunplay, your hero, typically the guy who has been investigating the mystery or murder takes a moment to quote Shakespeare. Or he thinks the moment he is in is surreal or it recalls to mind something Einstein or Locke said in a manifesto on the human response to fear. Or as a knife slashes through your lady detective's wrists as a killer attempts to kill her, and she takes a moment to reminisce about a childhood reading of Winnie the Pooh that might this moment save her life, or at least allow her to die in peace.
What is wrong with this picture?
Of course it is very like the moment in a film when at one instant a meteor is racing toward our hero and heroine but they have to work out their relationship problems before it strikes, yet it is hurtling at them at the same moment they decide to open their hearts and hands and hug and kiss when in fact there's NO TIME for that right now!
Some readers detest any internal monologue of the sort that takes a detective to a literary allusion or a psychological questioning of his own steps or motives. Other readers are not in the least bothered by such intrusions as the first readers call them. Still other readers look for the thoughtfulness of the lead characters, their flashback moments, their literary or otherwise allusions to books, philosophers, geniuses. Certainly Sherlock Holmes was a well-read detective, as was Charlie Chan who quoted Confucius ad nauseous. I am sure you can think of a well-read detective. Some readers LOVE a well-read lead who is not shy about quoting well-known and not so well-known experts and geniuses from all walks of life, even pop culture as in Tom Waits, Gordon Lightfoot, or Lady Gaga for example.
So what is a writer to do?
For one, go lightly and go wisely. Being too heavy-handed with literary allusions and asides that involve philosophical points of view, impressive nuggets of information from experts, no matter how apropos will kill any effect you had hoped to make. But is this advice not true of any element in your story? I personally like my detectives to be keenly aware of their environment which includes pop culture and history and the major events in evolution of the species, but I don't want to force any of it in or hit anyone over the head with it, or make speeches or attempt to send a Western Union message in my fiction.
That said, my longest running suspense character in eleven books, Dr. Jessica Coran is a very well-read person both in her field and in literature and history; in fact she knows everything I know of literature and history, as well as all I have learned of forensics over the years and police protocol. She is a fully-realized, well-rounded person/character. She is prone to self-analysis, self-doubt, and she is very much a strong character with flaws, and she sees the connections between and among things, and in making connections she is going to use metaphorical language, similes, allusions to others, her teacher Dr. Asa Holcraft and his writings, as well as the words of some geniuses in various fields of study and history. However, I do it with a light hand, and I execute it as seamlessly as possible, and somehow it works for me--my first reader--and for many many fans of Dr. Jessica Coran.
How about your detective or P.I. or even your amateur sleuth or beat cop? How much does he or she allude to literary figures, events, books, stories, and quotes by Mark Twain or another humorist, or the lyrics of a Kris Kristopherson or Tom Waits?
I hope you'll leave word here in comments about your detective or lead, whether or not your protagonist is meant to be well-read or not so well-read.
Robert W. Walker (Rob)
www.robertwalkerbooks.com
What is wrong with this picture?
Of course it is very like the moment in a film when at one instant a meteor is racing toward our hero and heroine but they have to work out their relationship problems before it strikes, yet it is hurtling at them at the same moment they decide to open their hearts and hands and hug and kiss when in fact there's NO TIME for that right now!
Some readers detest any internal monologue of the sort that takes a detective to a literary allusion or a psychological questioning of his own steps or motives. Other readers are not in the least bothered by such intrusions as the first readers call them. Still other readers look for the thoughtfulness of the lead characters, their flashback moments, their literary or otherwise allusions to books, philosophers, geniuses. Certainly Sherlock Holmes was a well-read detective, as was Charlie Chan who quoted Confucius ad nauseous. I am sure you can think of a well-read detective. Some readers LOVE a well-read lead who is not shy about quoting well-known and not so well-known experts and geniuses from all walks of life, even pop culture as in Tom Waits, Gordon Lightfoot, or Lady Gaga for example.
So what is a writer to do?
For one, go lightly and go wisely. Being too heavy-handed with literary allusions and asides that involve philosophical points of view, impressive nuggets of information from experts, no matter how apropos will kill any effect you had hoped to make. But is this advice not true of any element in your story? I personally like my detectives to be keenly aware of their environment which includes pop culture and history and the major events in evolution of the species, but I don't want to force any of it in or hit anyone over the head with it, or make speeches or attempt to send a Western Union message in my fiction.
That said, my longest running suspense character in eleven books, Dr. Jessica Coran is a very well-read person both in her field and in literature and history; in fact she knows everything I know of literature and history, as well as all I have learned of forensics over the years and police protocol. She is a fully-realized, well-rounded person/character. She is prone to self-analysis, self-doubt, and she is very much a strong character with flaws, and she sees the connections between and among things, and in making connections she is going to use metaphorical language, similes, allusions to others, her teacher Dr. Asa Holcraft and his writings, as well as the words of some geniuses in various fields of study and history. However, I do it with a light hand, and I execute it as seamlessly as possible, and somehow it works for me--my first reader--and for many many fans of Dr. Jessica Coran.
How about your detective or P.I. or even your amateur sleuth or beat cop? How much does he or she allude to literary figures, events, books, stories, and quotes by Mark Twain or another humorist, or the lyrics of a Kris Kristopherson or Tom Waits?
I hope you'll leave word here in comments about your detective or lead, whether or not your protagonist is meant to be well-read or not so well-read.
Robert W. Walker (Rob)
www.robertwalkerbooks.com
