Narration

Okay - so I learned something last night.  First - maybe I should read only one book at a time instead of five.  That way I might remember where I read something so that when I want to refer to it later, I might be able to just flip back to it.  Unfortunately, so many years in school has put me in a position where I am used to reading five or six books at a time and I often find myself flipping through numerous books saying to myself "now where did I read that?"

Anyway, I read that narrative summary is often boring.  While it might be a quick and efficient way of explaining something particularly complex to your reader about something in your story world that may (or may not) be important, it may simply end up being a lecture to your reader that quickly loses their interest. 

So where am I going with this?  Well, (I'm sorry Ms. Harrison - I love your books) yesterday I was reading my book, Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison.  Well, far be it to me to criticize Ms. Harrison's books - she's a published author (I mean, an agent, a publisher, the whole shebang), but as I was reading last night, there was a narrative.  

In this portion of the story she was explaining ley line jumping and the magical or maybe physical (as in physics) theory behind it.  And this explanation, while woven into the story, went on for pages, and pages.  And I found myself thinking about this commentary I read about narration.  And then I found myself thinking about the actual narration and thinking who cares?  Why do I need this much detail about ley line jumping?  Am I going to do it?  If some demon comes from another dimension and snags me, will this knowledge allow me to jump back to my dimension?  Probably not.  So why this in depth explanation?  A short summary of the basics would have been enough.  And then, later on, should I need a bit more information, give it to me then.  I'm not going to remember this stuff later on in the story.  This is B-O-R-I-N-G!  As in Monday morning, haven't had enough sleep, partied too hard on Friday, Saturday *and* Sunday, and ended up in a Calculus IV lecture with an 85 year old tenured prof who should have retired 30 years ago BORING!  Why was it there?

Okay - so now...at least with regards to narration...NOW, I get it.  The question is, can I edit my own work and remember to keep this type of worthless narration to a minimum?  I need to remember, it belongs on the cutting room floor.