Neil Gaiman #002: Use THE ECHO as a voice!

          Let’s get right to it today and see an innovative way Neil Gaiman uses parentheses in The Ocean at the End of the Lane:

I would talk to people whose existence I had forgotten years before and they would ask me about my marriage (failed a decade ago, a relationship that had slowly frayed until eventually, as they always seem to, it broke) and whether I was seeing anyone (I wasn’t, I was not even sure that I could, not yet) and they would ask about my children (all grown up, they have their own lives, they wish they could be here today), work (doing fine, thank you, I would say, never knowing how to talk about what I do. If I could talk about it, I would not have to do it. I make art, and sometimes it fills the empty places in my life. Some of them. Not all.)

          I call this THE ECHO. It’s like he’s holding a conversation with himself, but really, he’s just relaying words he said earlier. He uses “tell” to list the questions people asked him, which are not really interesting questions, and he uses parentheses to reveal his answers, which in many cases are EXTREMELY interesting to us, the readers. Usually, parentheses are used to downplay extra information that seems tossed in, but here, it reveals important character details.

Try this:

Imagine a “prodigal son” character, someone who has left his family, left his town, and gotten involved in some activities that are less than admirable. Now, for whatever reason (you can make it a funeral if you like), he’s back in town, and when people ask him questions, there are two answers–the one he gives them, and the truth. Put the truth in parentheses and report the other answers in a straight “tell.”

Coming tomorrow: Neil Gaiman and THE DOUBLE DELAY…