Timeline for Can a writer joke with the reader without breaking the fourth wall?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 9, 2018 at 23:26 | vote | accept | David Doyle | ||
| Apr 9, 2018 at 23:26 | |||||
| Apr 9, 2018 at 23:20 | vote | accept | David Doyle | ||
| Apr 9, 2018 at 23:21 | |||||
| Apr 9, 2018 at 13:46 | comment | added | user30254 | @KonradRudolph Yes and no, depending on the definition. Footnotes of that style are a separate communication channel between the writer and the reader, a part of the story but separate. They don't break the fourth wall, because the fourth wall on that channel never existed to begin with. This might be going too far into semantics, so I leave it to the OP to decide whether it fits his requirements or not and I can understand both positions (breaking vs not breaking). | |
| Apr 9, 2018 at 13:22 | comment | added | Konrad Rudolph | While this works well, it absolutely breaks the fourth wall. | |
| Apr 9, 2018 at 12:51 | comment | added | JMac | @Secespitus I was going to reference that here as well. I like that example, because the book actually provides an in-universe reason for them. It fit in very well with the story. | |
| Apr 9, 2018 at 10:49 | comment | added | Chronocidal | A Pratchett (or Douglas Adams) example would probably be include a play on words or Garden Path sentence, e.g. "John punched the bear on the nose and stood his ground bravely, causing the bear to turn and run, never to be seen again.² (² John, that is. The bear was seen the next day, looking remarkably smug and well fed)" | |
| Apr 9, 2018 at 9:38 | comment | added | Secespitus | Footnotes are also employed by Jonathan Stroud in his Bartimaeus Sequence. This answer has an example (Disclaimer: the question is one of my own on SFF) | |
| Apr 9, 2018 at 8:10 | comment | added | DonFusili | In case OP wants to use this technique and wants more examples, the two books where he (Pratchett) does (sadly, did) this the most are off the top of my head Thief of Time and Unseen Academicals. | |
| Apr 9, 2018 at 6:56 | review | First posts | |||
| Apr 9, 2018 at 7:52 | |||||
| Apr 9, 2018 at 6:56 | history | answered | user30254 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |