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Q&A At what point does an interesting analogy become a distraction?

If the scene is supposed to be dramatic, a joke is out of place. Personally I did not find it funny, I thought it cliché. As a professional author and teacher, I am NOT in favor of the idea that ...

posted 5y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-19T22:13:45Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44808
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T11:46:53Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/44808
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T11:46:53Z (almost 5 years ago)
If the scene is supposed to be dramatic, a joke is out of place. Personally I did not find it funny, I thought it cliché.

As a professional author and teacher, I am NOT in favor of the idea that "one should not hold back from any good ideas, regardless of how it impacts the current end result".

If it _negatively_ impacts the end result, it **isn't a good idea.** Or your definition of a "good idea" is seriously lacking. Good ideas improve the writing, ramp up the drama or danger or emotion. Just because you think something is funny doesn't make it a good idea for the scene you are writing; "funny" is not always appropriate. Your goal in any given scene is to convey some tone, and a smart writer restricts their definition of "good" to what matches the tone, and their definition of "bad" to anything dissonant with that tone.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-04-27T19:54:34Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 4