Should a story have an author explanation in the book?

Writing Desk Archive
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I think they can be good if the author wants to explain the background or idea behind something but they aren’t always necessary. The writing could even just explain itself in a way so the author doesn’t have to explain.

@Writers what do you think?

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I think instead of just telling the reader the idea, the author should show them it without directly saying.

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I’m writing a character with DID rn
Not rlly sure ab it lmao, I’m considering an explanation cus a lot of ppl could be confused. Ultimately I’m gonna try get a beta reader who’s never heard of the disorder in the hopes that I’ve managed to explain it well enough within the story that it doesn’t matter

I think it would often be rendered useless as a lot of readers would ignore it or deem it as evidence that teh book isn’t that great at explaining things

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It depends on why it’s needed. I usually don’t read them. The only one I read that I actually remember was a book series from YEARS ago. It was S.T.O.R.M, and the author explained how all the books’ technology was based on actual tech, which literally or just loosely.

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I’d love it if stories had author explanations but I don’t think they need to be added. If the author wants to explain parts of the story, there are many ways to let readers, who are interested, know about that. I’d definitely write something like blog posts to explain my stories.

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