Bramblethorn
Sleep-deprived
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2012
- Posts
- 18,329
Both for words and for things like sentence structure: what makes the difference between good and bad repetition?
I just read a feedback-request story where the first four sentences all had the same structure: "X, but Y". I commented that it'd be better to mix it up.
But... I've also just submitted a story where I deliberately start with a lot of repetition. "I knew Rafi was a fellow nerd, I knew she liked cats, I knew 'Rafi' was short for Rafeeqa...but there was one thing I didn't know about her". It's hard to judge one's own work, but I think it works there, or at least doesn't hurt it.
Any thoughts? What makes the difference between repetition that just feels unimaginative, and repetition that strengthens the story?
I just read a feedback-request story where the first four sentences all had the same structure: "X, but Y". I commented that it'd be better to mix it up.
But... I've also just submitted a story where I deliberately start with a lot of repetition. "I knew Rafi was a fellow nerd, I knew she liked cats, I knew 'Rafi' was short for Rafeeqa...but there was one thing I didn't know about her". It's hard to judge one's own work, but I think it works there, or at least doesn't hurt it.
Any thoughts? What makes the difference between repetition that just feels unimaginative, and repetition that strengthens the story?