Skip it or show it?

I've been thinking about a book in which a Big Event happened that was not really part of the book's action. The book was about the characters reacting to it, but we never got inside the Big Event, not even in flashback. Which reminds me of another book in which the biggest events--including some romance and a death--all happened offstage. We only saw the characters in scenes before and after these events. To put it in a way that Seinfeld fans will recognize, the author yadda-yadda'ed over the Big Events. I felt like I'd ordered a sandwich and got nothing but bread and a scrap of lettuce.

On the other hand, May Sarton used the writing-between-the-Big-Events technique very well in her novel The Small Room. And many people (me included) think that the movie Jaws was at its best when we didn't quite see the shark.

Generally, it's best to plunge right into Big Events, to give them center stage in our books. They're likely to be the most important and interesting scenes. It takes skill to write around a Big Event without seeming coy, or putting the reader to sleep, or risking book-flinging frustration. On rare occasions, it's best for us not to see the Big Event, but only to feel its presence looming behind us, its fangs dripping onto our shoulders.


Bonus links today! Kimberly Sabatini over at YA Outside the Lines blogged about when to indulge in online venting (and when not to, of course) ... some of the most sensible guidelines I've seen.

And Sarah Rees Brennan blogged about the women behind the Nancy Drew series. Hint: They were kind of awesome, especially when speaking in dialogue imagined by Sarah Rees Brennan. And it also becomes clear why Nancy never got all gushy over Ned Nickerson.