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I would argue that you shouldn't, nor should your writing require training the reader in the first place. At least not in a work of fiction. At its heart, fiction is about telling a story. (Which m...
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#2: Post edited
by
Canina
·
2020-06-26T09:25:21Z (over 4 years ago)
jargon can be as bad
- I would argue that **you shouldn't,** nor should your writing require training the reader in the first place.
- At least not in a work of fiction.
- At its heart, fiction is about telling a story. (Which may or may not be intended only as entertainment.) More generally, any kind of writing is ultimately about communicating some kind of message to the reader; where the reader, in turn, may be separate in individual, time and/or space.
- *If your writing fails at communicating, then it doesn't matter how factually accurate it is; you have still failed.*
If you're using language that is so obtuse that the average reader can't be expected to follow the story you're telling without, effectively, needing to learn at least elements of a different language (whether that's a strong dialect or outright a different language), then your story is likely to fail at immersing the reader or getting any message across to them. Only the most dedicated people are likely to read it at all.- What you're asking about, in fact, seems not dissimilar from my older question [How to convey that the POV character *does not understand* what's said in dialogue?](https://writing.codidact.com/q/8626)
- All of this, of course, is one part of the reason why so many fiction stories incorporate some kind of universal translator, or dialog is in a language that the characters wouldn't use (but the reader knows), or both.
- I would argue that **you shouldn't,** nor should your writing require training the reader in the first place.
- At least not in a work of fiction.
- At its heart, fiction is about telling a story. (Which may or may not be intended only as entertainment.) More generally, any kind of writing is ultimately about communicating some kind of message to the reader; where the reader, in turn, may be separate in individual, time and/or space.
- *If your writing fails at communicating, then it doesn't matter how factually accurate it is; you have still failed.*
- If you're using language that is so obtuse that the average reader can't be expected to *follow the story you're telling* without, effectively, needing to learn at least elements of a different language (whether that's specific jargon, a strong dialect or outright a different language), then your story is likely to fail at immersing the reader or getting any message across to them. Only the most dedicated people are likely to read it at all.
- What you're asking about, in fact, seems not dissimilar from my older question [How to convey that the POV character *does not understand* what's said in dialogue?](https://writing.codidact.com/q/8626)
- All of this, of course, is one part of the reason why so many fiction stories incorporate some kind of universal translator, or dialog is in a language that the characters wouldn't use (but the reader knows), or both.
#1: Initial revision
by
Canina
·
2020-06-25T12:46:27Z (over 4 years ago)
I would argue that **you shouldn't,** nor should your writing require training the reader in the first place. At least not in a work of fiction. At its heart, fiction is about telling a story. (Which may or may not be intended only as entertainment.) More generally, any kind of writing is ultimately about communicating some kind of message to the reader; where the reader, in turn, may be separate in individual, time and/or space. *If your writing fails at communicating, then it doesn't matter how factually accurate it is; you have still failed.* If you're using language that is so obtuse that the average reader can't be expected to follow the story you're telling without, effectively, needing to learn at least elements of a different language (whether that's a strong dialect or outright a different language), then your story is likely to fail at immersing the reader or getting any message across to them. Only the most dedicated people are likely to read it at all. What you're asking about, in fact, seems not dissimilar from my older question [How to convey that the POV character *does not understand* what's said in dialogue?](https://writing.codidact.com/q/8626) All of this, of course, is one part of the reason why so many fiction stories incorporate some kind of universal translator, or dialog is in a language that the characters wouldn't use (but the reader knows), or both.