Glossary of uncommon terms: Camping (literary criticism/proofreading)

[azurelunatic]

Every now and then, I may say of a book, "It was pretty good, except for all the camping."

Most people will probably be confused by this statement. Residents of the alternate universe in which there were more than four Harry Potter books are probably nodding their heads.

Camping is where the characters hide from nefarious forces of doom by hiding out in the woods, for weeks and weeks and weeks with basically nothing happening. The characters get bored and start climbing the walls. So do the readers.

Sometimes it actually is better to tell than show, unless you actually want to drag the audience through the horrifying boredom with the characters. It is a literary choice that some authors take. Not everyone has attained the skill to make the creeping psychosis of absolute fucking tedium as riveting as a high-speed chase scene. A swing and miss here? Camping. Bring the marshmallows.

Comments

[majoline]

Ah, you mean the times it is better to gloss or montage rather than show ;)

I know that people make fun of montages all the time, but would one really want to sit through training?

This is an interesting post for me because the fic I'm currently embroiled with is basically a short camping fic before the main event, because if I don't establish how things work for the readers, then I've got to turn the action packed political drama I want to tell into Moby Dick.

But it isn't very long, and people seem to be enjoying it? So hopefully it isn't terribly tedious.

[azurelunatic]

Short and enjoyable is not (im)Proper Camping.

Camping is a failure mode of Quiet Suspense, I think.