Fiction Repetition Guest Post

“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times…”

You’ve probably heard it before and you’ll hear it again: fiction imitates life, but it’s not a perfect reflection of it. It’s the reason why we don’t write out every ‘um’ and ‘uh’ and ‘like’ in dialogue. It’s why we generally frown on coincidences and randomness and Deus Ex Machina, despite the fact that random weird stuff happens all the time in the real world.

Another thing that happens a lot in real life is repetition. Stacey and I will decide to go out for coffee on Friday at two. A few days later I’ll forget the time and call her up to double-check. And then Fridayrolls around and I might call her again—“we still meeting at two?” We see the same funny pictures reposted a dozen times on Facebook. The same inspirational quotes repeated on Twitter. On the first day of school, you’re read a nearly identical syllabus in every class you set foot in.

That’s life—but fiction isn’t a perfect reflection of life. Often, I’ll see writers spelling out what’s already obvious, or repeating important details just in case the reader didn’t catch them the first time around. And it makes sense; sometimes when you’re having a conversation, you need to do the same, in case the other person was zoning out or distracted or didn’t hear you. But the readers trust you, the writer, to be careful and deliberate about the words you use. They know that characters who are named and described will be important later on. They know you’re not going to spend their time on something that isn’t worth their attention. In turn, it’s important to trust them to catch details and clues as they arise.

Now, what I’m describing isn’t the same thing as foreshadowing and setting up Chekov’s guns—in which case I do recommend repetition. For example, if the evil dragon will eventually be defeated by his wheat gluten allergy, I’d recommend bringing it up at least twice before then. Maybe as throwaway lines, like including the burning of barley fields along with the dragon’s other destruction, or seemingly unrelated anecdotes, like the dragon roasting a servant who asked if he wanted his soup in a bread bowl. In the case of Chekov’s guns, subtle repetition can ensure that the reader doesn’t feel like the ending came out of nowhere.

In both cases, the appropriate use (or disuse) of repetition is all about forming a partnership with your reader. It’s about giving them just enough detail to let them figure things out on their own, but not enough to make them feel like they’re being spoon-fed information. Trust in your reader’s intelligence—after all, they picked up your book, didn’t they?

JW Troemner is a freelance editor and unpublished author haunting the shelves of used bookstores in Indianapolis.