Do not hand the reader a caption

The fear is that the image will not be enough. So the evaluation is written: unforgettable, safe, different, beautiful. The reader receives a concept already processed. He cannot project it.

The flesh of the text is what could be filmed. Entering a cabin and disordering the sheets. A lake with swans at the end of a dawn. The tremor of a wall in a room without mirrors.

They are not examples to copy. They are the contrast. Evaluation on one side, action on the other. When the feeling is strong, the image can even break physics — hear a texture, see a stone sing — and remain faithful. It is not decoration. It is the measure of the impact.

Source: the notebook, "Narrate versus evaluate."