How exactly should I address the experience?
In my story, a character has a very profound experience. (Not before, but during the story!)
But I don't know how exactly I should address this. I've thought of two possibilities. In one, the character looks back on it, and in the other, you'd experience it almost directly.
An example (character experiences a car accident):
Indirect experience: The car accident is only hinted at. (E.g., XY saw the driver lose control, swerve back and forth, and then drift directly in his direction.) Later, the character looks back on it and remembers what he felt at that moment. (E.g., XY was frozen. The knowledge that only luck had saved XY from the collision made XY's throat tighten.)
Direct experience: Here, the character's thoughts are reported directly during the accident. (E.g., the car was coming directly toward XY. XY was frozen. Miraculously, it passed him by. XY heard the bang as it crashed into the house behind him.)
(3 votes)
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I’m both good. Can’t decide. But the indirect experience is more common from books.
Indirect is usually too flat and annoying. You already need very good skills to make it work well.
Directly is more exciting, easier to make, the reader is more interested and it becomes a (additional) voltage arc in history.
That’s actually both good, I think. But do you write your story in present or preteriority?
This would indeed have a fundamental impact on the decision.