A lesson for the old school.
Recently a more established writer reviewed of some my work. I was quite chuffed. In summary, he said he found it most enjoyable. But here's the interesting part.
“Karen was as Kate the shrew, needing to be tamed.” - He commented 'needing to be tamed' was not required.
As 'writers', everybody is educated a certain way, therefore we all know of Kate and what a masterful piece of imagery I've penned. - This is the core problem with the literary world. Writers are writing for other writers. Hence you're writing to a small section of a decreasing market. Author's are the engineers of their own discontent.
Another excerpt.
“How about me and you...” he tried to touch her face.
“Step back!” she scowled, pulling away before looking him up and down. “You don't know me like that.”
To you, the 'author'. Clumsy dialogue perhaps. But to a whole market / generation that's some wicked imagery, innit! They've no clue who Kate was and Shakespeare's boring, but she (the character) has just quoted 'Ludacris' – They know exactly what type girl she (the character) is. To them I have pulled off a master-stroke in dialogue.
The problem comes here, should the first draft contain footnotes for the editor?