Footnotes in fiction.

[Elizabeth Avery]

When you think of footnotes in fiction the one most people think of is probably Terry Pratchett where he uses them for humorous little asides in his books. But Mr Pratchett writes comedy and I was wondering whether or not that might give him a pass for unconventional story formats. Already being famous and having lots of fans probably doesn't hurt either.

Do you think it could be used in a more serious story, or even just one that's not straight comedy, or written to be purposefully 'weird'?

I'm writing fantasy set in another world which is obviously going to need exposition at times when the reader encounters something not of our world. Some things, like elves and dragons, I can expect the audience to already know about, but made-up creatures or cultural differences may have to be explained. I'd like to avoid paragraphs of narrative exposition, or conversations with other characters that make the MC out to be someone who knows nothing about the world she lives in. Basically I want to keep conversations as natural as possible and avoid any 'so you know about X right? or 'as you know' sort of phrasing. I'm writing in first person so I'd also like to avoid a character who walks around constantly thinking about what should be, to her anyway, common everyday occurrences, but would be things that would have to be explained to readers.

The MC is well-read in cultural studies so I was thinking about using footnotes that are excerpts from the various books she's read. They could provide information to the reader in a textbook context while not interrupting the story. I also liked the idea of showing some minor contradictions between the footnote information and what the MC is personally experiencing on her journey, implying that her world's academic community isn't as accurate as it pretends to be, especially when writing about people of other cultures. Later stories would then start to use excerpts from the MC's personal notes rather than the textbooks showing her over time improving the quality of information available to her and her country.

Thoughts?
Footnotes in fiction? Yes? No?
Any reading suggestions that do something similar?

[Shoe]

Infinite Jest by the guy who wore a scarf on his and later killed himself (mind=blank) used them extensively. I think Dave Eggers use them in his first book (Staggering Genius) but I'm guessing there. Both were "serious" stories.

I don't know how an ebook would handle them. Formatting could be a real issue.

I didn't care for the footnotes in Infinite Jest, others raved about them.

[Vijaya]

As a NF writer, I footnote everything, but I don't like it in fiction even if the author is giving interesting asides. I'd much prefer an author's note in the back. But it could work for you, esp. if it's humorous. Formatting would be a pain though.

[CoraBuhlert]

Infinite Jest by the guy who wore a scarf on his and later killed himself (mind=blank) used them extensively. I think Dave Eggers use them in his first book (Staggering Genius) but I'm guessing there. Both were "serious" stories.

I don't know how an ebook would handle them. Formatting could be a real issue.

I didn't care for the footnotes in Infinite Jest, others raved about them.

I think you mean David Foster Wallace.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke is another novel with extensive footnotes.

However, if you want to do it, formatting will be an issue. I have academic non-fiction works I'd like to (re)publish, but have no idea how to format the footnotes.

[Superchaise]

Do you think it could be used in a more serious story, or even just one that's not straight comedy, or written to be purposefully 'weird'?

The MC is well-read in cultural studies so I was thinking about using footnotes that are excerpts from the various books she's read.
[snip]

It has been done in serious stories before. Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782) by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos comes to mind. It's written as a collection of letters from members of high society who are engaged in, well, dangerous liaisons. The footnotes are written by the "editor" of the letters and provide biographical details that the letter-writers would already know about each other. In other words, the footnotes are exposition.

The footnotes in Laclos' book have a scholarly voice. Considering your MC is an academic, I do think you can pull this off.

As a reader, I like it. In fact, I'm putting Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke (h/t CoraBuhlert) on my to-read list because it's one of my favorite devices. As a writer, well… I write picture books, so this isn't my area of expertise!

[Elizabeth Avery]

However, if you want to do it, formatting will be an issue. I have academic non-fiction works I'd like to (re)publish, but have no idea how to format the footnotes.

Yes formatting may end up being an issue for kindle. It's also an issue when I work on the file through google docs. While Word puts footnotes at the end of the page, google docs puts them at the end of the file. I might have to fiddle with it and see how it goes. I have some sample chapters up in places where I just put the footnote in a box [] under the paragraph it's relevant to, but I doubt that would work for publishing.

[Lysmata Debelius]

Footnotes in Ebook are actually not that tricky. You have to decide whether you want to put them at the end of each chapter, or put them all at the end of the book. The footnote number in the text is a link to the footnote, and the footnote itself is a link back to the number in the text so from the reader's point of view it is actually quite seamless, skipping back and forth.

Some devices have the capacity to display the footnote in a little pop up bubble on the actual page, but many don't.

[Elizabeth Avery]

Footnotes in Ebook are actually not that tricky. You have to decide whether you want to put them at the end of each chapter, or put them all at the end of the book. The footnote number in the text is a link to the footnote, and the footnote itself is a link back to the number in the text so from the reader's point of view it is actually quite seamless, skipping back and forth.

Some devices have the capacity to display the footnote in a little pop up bubble on the actual page, but many don't.

Ooh~ I didn't realize you could choose where the footnotes were listed. I thought it had to be at the end of the book. If it's at the end of the chapter that would work quite well. That way even if someone chose to skip the annotations they could still read the notes while they're still relevant.

Do I choose where the footnotes appear when I'm submitting or is there something I have to do to let kindle know where I want them? Or is it something the reader decides?

[Jo]

It is done the same way the TOC is done.

[Lysmata Debelius]

Elizabeth it's set up like that when the ebook is formatted.

[Arches]

When you think of footnotes in fiction the one most people think of is probably Terry Pratchett where he uses them for humorous little asides in his books. But Mr Pratchett writes comedy and I was wondering whether or not that might give him a pass for unconventional story formats. Already being famous and having lots of fans probably doesn't hurt either.

Do you think it could be used in a more serious story, or even just one that's not straight comedy, or written to be purposefully 'weird'?

I'm writing fantasy set in another world which is obviously going to need exposition at times when the reader encounters something not of our world. Some things, like elves and dragons, I can expect the audience to already know about, but made-up creatures or cultural differences may have to be explained. I'd like to avoid paragraphs of narrative exposition, or conversations with other characters that make the MC out to be someone who knows nothing about the world she lives in. Basically I want to keep conversations as natural as possible and avoid any 'so you know about X right? or 'as you know' sort of phrasing. I'm writing in first person so I'd also like to avoid a character who walks around constantly thinking about what should be, to her anyway, common everyday occurrences, but would be things that would have to be explained to readers.

The MC is well-read in cultural studies so I was thinking about using footnotes that are excerpts from the various books she's read. They could provide information to the reader in a textbook context while not interrupting the story. I also liked the idea of showing some minor contradictions between the footnote information and what the MC is personally experiencing on her journey, implying that her world's academic community isn't as accurate as it pretends to be, especially when writing about people of other cultures. Later stories would then start to use excerpts from the MC's personal notes rather than the textbooks showing her over time improving the quality of information available to her and her country.

Thoughts?
Footnotes in fiction? Yes? No?
Any reading suggestions that do something similar?

I think your more serious problem isn't formatting but constantly interrupting the story. It sounds like you want to avoid info dumps in the text, which is a good thing, but every time you pull the reader away from the story for a detailed explanation in a footnote, you weaken their connection to the fictive dream. One of the challenges in writing fantasy is to make the world-building interesting enough to keep the readers attention while keeping the plot moving. I don't think footnotes are going to help, but I've been wrong before. Best of luck.