I’ve often heard the writing advice of Show don’t Tell, but Alice LaPlante in The Making of a Story says Show and Tell and The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett shows us an example.
The Vanishing Half is the story of the Vignes twins who run away from home at the age of sixteen. Though identical twins, their adult lives are guided by differences. Everything’s different: their families, their communities, their racial identities.
How can African American twins have different racial identities you ask? That forms the plot arc of the story and the privileges that come with it or the price they need to pay guides the underlying themes.
The Vanishing Half is a family drama in the backdrop of racial injustice. It is mostly a story of differences with its plot covering another facet of African American living I was unaware of. For that, it was an entertaining read.
Alice LaPlante in her book The Making of a Story talks about the importance of narration. She defines telling as summary or narration, which includes:
- history or background information
- explanations or definitions
- specific thoughts and emotions of various characters
- analysis and commentary on what is happening in the story
- fiddling with the clock by transporting the reader backward or forward in time
The advice of show don’t tell is often offered to novice writers because a good narration requires skill. LaPlante says that a good narration needs to be:
‘…so strong and evocative, the voice so compelling, that we wouldn’t mind being told many more things…’
LaPlante goes ahead to state:
‘The precise mix of scene and narration that a writer chooses to use is one of the most defining elements of his or her particular “voice,” or style.’
The Vanishing Half stands out for this precise mix giving its narrator an interesting style. Every so often, the narrator of The Vanishing Half will fiddle with the clock, transport the reader forward in time and give a snapshot of how that thread in the story will play out sometime in the future. Here’s an example.
‘“I bet you’re not thinkin about Mallard now,” Farrah said one night as the twins skittered, laughing and tired, onto the backseat.
Desiree laughed. “Never,” she said.
She was good at pretending to be brave. She would never admit to Farrah that she was homesick and worried always about money. Soon Farrah would tire of the twins sprawling out on her floor, taking up time in her bathroom, eating her food, always being around, an unwanted guest doubled. Then what? Where would they be? Maybe they were just silly country girls in over their heads. Maybe Desiree was foolish to ever believe she could be more than that. Maybe they should just go back home.’
Here we get a peep into thoughts, Farrah’s and one of the twins’. We see their dislikes, fears and doubts, in the voice of an omniscient narrator.
Here’s another example.
‘They called her Tar Baby.
Midnight. Darky. Mudpie. Said, Smile, we can’t see you. Said, You so dark you blend into the chalkboard. Said, Bet you could show up naked to a funeral. Bet lightning bugs follow you in the daytime. Bet when you swim it look like oil. They made up lots of jokes, and once, well into her forties, she would recite a litany of them at a dinner party in San Francisco. Bet cockroaches call you cousin. Bet you can’t find your own shadow.’
The details in this narration/telling are so vivid the reader can see half scenes play out in this dramatised telling.
The following is another example of the narrator’s unique style of narration. Here Brit Bennet starts a chapter by placing us at a specific time and place in the future. In this example, she also uses this style to switch the perspective and show the reader the story from another character’s point of view.
‘If you went to the Park’s Korean Barbecue on Normandie and Eighth, during the fall of 1982, you’d probably find Jude Winston wiping down one of the high tables, staring out the foggy window. Sometimes before her shift started, she sat in a back booth reading.’
The book has an interesting plot, is told by an omniscient narrator, is spread across decades in a structure split by time and perspectives, and offers an enjoyable read.
Book Title: The Vanishing Half
Author: Brit Bennett
Publisher: Riverhead Books, 2020
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