Saturday, September 18, 2010

A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon 32

sound distraction

Inserting an errant sound in a quiet or a dialog moment to break the reader's concetration but letting the outer world intrude in the inner one. For example, a seriious conversation between two lovers can become so weighted that it sags. So we insert - "A hawk cawed in the distant woodlands." That'll do it (corny as it sounds) and it works every time.

Edward C. Patterson

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