“Show, don’t tell” might be the three most misunderstood words in a writer’s vocabulary.
Show, Don't Tell
But—
- Why is showing so important?
- Is it always bad to tell?
- How the heck do you even know if you’re doing it right?
“Show, don’t tell” might be the three most misunderstood words in a writer’s vocabulary.
Show, Don't Tell
But—
by Lori Freeland
Avoid unlikeable main characters. Show don’t tell. Lock your character into character. Tell your story forward. Pass on passive verbs. Say bye-bye to backstory. Nix the omniscient narrator and dodge the dreaded head hop. Always remember adjectives are lazy, exclamation points are evil, and adverbs are from the devil.… Read the post
Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy
Readers experience your novel through the eyes of your narrator. Sometimes this narrative filter is invisible and readers don’t perceive any distance between them and the point-of-view character, such as with a first-person point of view. Other times the filters are obvious and readers feel the space between them and the characters, such as with an omniscient narrator.… Read the post
Most writers know Show Don’t Tell, but sometimes they think they’re showing when they are telling.
Here’s my oh-so-easy check.
Read the sentence that you think SHOWS the reader something.
Ask yourself ---- What’s the Visual?
You may be surprised that the sentence doesn’t provide a visual.… Read the post
There are a lot of crimes a writer can commit—the torture of sentences, the mangling of meaning, the wrecking of words through using the wrong one at the wrong time. However, the greatest of these is the crime of lack—to forget to put in the emotion.… Read the post
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