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Events will have less emotional impact on the reader if you write them in the background and not for specific characters, especially not your main characters. For example, compare a scene descri...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39923 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39923 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Events will have less emotional impact on the reader if you write them in the background and not for specific characters, especially not your main characters. For example, compare a scene describing a violent rape to one of your characters vs a scene where a character is in police station or a military command office and an unnamed person comes in trying to report a rape. The officer dismisses her with a "what can I do? besides, you're the 50th report I've gotten this week." In the latter example, you set the stage. The reader understands that rape has become common and the men in charge don't even care. But you do it without sensationalizing it.