In TV/movie terms, "breaking the fourth wall" is when the actors acknowledge the camera and address the people watching. Here's what I'd like to know as it applies to writing:
A) Is it called the same thing for books?
B) Is it an acceptable thing to do sometimes, or is it taboo?
Now descriptions pretty much break that wall on purpose. I'm wondering if you've ever had a character address the reader in a fiction setting. For a half-bum example, there's a line in my first book that could at very least be seen as pressing on that fourth wall if it doesn't break it altogether:
“You know,” Mike replied as he smiled at the fact that they were going to another Marion, “if someone were writing a book about our exploits, going to another city that just happens to be almost exactly like the one in which we currently live might make the writer come off as a bit lazy. Don’t you think? ..."
A) Is it called the same thing for books?
B) Is it an acceptable thing to do sometimes, or is it taboo?
Now descriptions pretty much break that wall on purpose. I'm wondering if you've ever had a character address the reader in a fiction setting. For a half-bum example, there's a line in my first book that could at very least be seen as pressing on that fourth wall if it doesn't break it altogether:
“You know,” Mike replied as he smiled at the fact that they were going to another Marion, “if someone were writing a book about our exploits, going to another city that just happens to be almost exactly like the one in which we currently live might make the writer come off as a bit lazy. Don’t you think? ..."