Great piece in its own right, Emma, but it also reminds me just how many valuable articles you've written on the subject. I owe you a lot for any understanding I've gained at all. Jauss's collection On Writing Fiction is really insightful too. I think you recommended it a few years back and it's a great read.
Skill manipulating psychic distance seems to be valuable, as you say in the article, in wider context than narrative writing. Some business leaders understand psychic distance and use it brilliantly; I think Steve Jobs was a good exponent. Whenever you've heard a compelling board presentation, sales pitch, investment launch or pretty much any powerful communication, the speaker is often subtly putting you right in the emotional centre just when needed, so that you feel the impact of the points even viscerally but have still appreciated the broader landscape of the talk. It's very clever, and very useful!
Agree with you on Jauss's On Writing Fiction. Did you read the New Yorker piece he recommends in the chapter on tense? People Like That are the Only People Here by Lorrie Moore? There's a writer with skill in bucket loads imho :)
I did! And I read a novel of hers - A Gate at the Stairs. Very good writer. Remarkable sentence-craft and pace control. I should read more of her work. Thanks for the reminder!
Goodness, I see I missed this comment - sorry! And I'm so glad it's been useful to you - and isn't the Jauss great?! Good point about Jobs. I must listen out for similar things.
I just love psychic distance as a concept and try to spot it in most of what I read. Analysing sentence by sentence the rough-levels being achieved and the transitions between far-focus and close-in-focus is something I am learning to practice. It's so interesting and illuminating to do and the results quite surprising. Recently read a novel (Sorry You Feel That Way) which never once focused in close enough to be awarded a PD5. It stayed pretty much in PD3 and PD4 - this is not a criticism, just that I noted it. And then I realised that one of the themes of the story was how unaware the family members where of their mental-health/emotional motivations it made total sense that the author never went in close. So PD can be thematic tool too! :)
I seem to have missed everything on this post! And yes, I do agree that like any good tool, it can be used in ways which support the themes and effects of the book, as well as in more straightforward, well-made-storytelling ways. SO fascinating when you spot that, isn't it.
Great piece in its own right, Emma, but it also reminds me just how many valuable articles you've written on the subject. I owe you a lot for any understanding I've gained at all. Jauss's collection On Writing Fiction is really insightful too. I think you recommended it a few years back and it's a great read.
Skill manipulating psychic distance seems to be valuable, as you say in the article, in wider context than narrative writing. Some business leaders understand psychic distance and use it brilliantly; I think Steve Jobs was a good exponent. Whenever you've heard a compelling board presentation, sales pitch, investment launch or pretty much any powerful communication, the speaker is often subtly putting you right in the emotional centre just when needed, so that you feel the impact of the points even viscerally but have still appreciated the broader landscape of the talk. It's very clever, and very useful!
Agree with you on Jauss's On Writing Fiction. Did you read the New Yorker piece he recommends in the chapter on tense? People Like That are the Only People Here by Lorrie Moore? There's a writer with skill in bucket loads imho :)
I did! And I read a novel of hers - A Gate at the Stairs. Very good writer. Remarkable sentence-craft and pace control. I should read more of her work. Thanks for the reminder!
Oh lordy! Another book I must read... The pile grows ever vertiginous...
So true!
Goodness, I see I missed this comment - sorry! And I'm so glad it's been useful to you - and isn't the Jauss great?! Good point about Jobs. I must listen out for similar things.
I just love psychic distance as a concept and try to spot it in most of what I read. Analysing sentence by sentence the rough-levels being achieved and the transitions between far-focus and close-in-focus is something I am learning to practice. It's so interesting and illuminating to do and the results quite surprising. Recently read a novel (Sorry You Feel That Way) which never once focused in close enough to be awarded a PD5. It stayed pretty much in PD3 and PD4 - this is not a criticism, just that I noted it. And then I realised that one of the themes of the story was how unaware the family members where of their mental-health/emotional motivations it made total sense that the author never went in close. So PD can be thematic tool too! :)
I seem to have missed everything on this post! And yes, I do agree that like any good tool, it can be used in ways which support the themes and effects of the book, as well as in more straightforward, well-made-storytelling ways. SO fascinating when you spot that, isn't it.