10. Show don't tell #1
100 Creative Writing Things # 10:
This is a post about why a sentence like this is lazy writing:
Draco stood at the lake, wondering why Harry had not come for the last three nights.
The One Rule of Creative Writing that rules them all is: Show Don't Tell.
"Show don't tell" is what makes writing literary, as opposed to journalistic or academic. It is what makes reading stories an engaging and powerful experience. It is how writers create worlds that may be just as "real" and authentic as the real world around us.
The problem with "show don't tell" is that it's not easy to teach. There is no clear-cut rule that I could post here, and then everybody gets it and we all are better writers. I understand something more about what all "show don't tell" means with every new story I write or edit.
Recently, teprometo collected writing advice, and a great collection of tips and links came together. Every comment is worth you attention but I was especially grateful that someone posted a link to this article:
A few amazing writing tips from Chuck Palahniuk.
Chuck Palahniuk's advice for writers is:
From this point forward-at least for the next half year-you may not use “thought” verbs. These include: Thinks, Knows, Understands, Realizes, Believes, Wants, Remembers, Imagines, Desires, and a hundred others you love to use.
What he is advising us is to not take all the little lazy tell short-cuts but really work and strive for showing. And to do so for at least half a year. Because obviously, we will need those "thought" verbs sometimes. But his advice is to consciously not use them for a while, and to see how your writing changes.
This advice is gold, people.
If you struggle with your writing, if you're bored/frustrated with your writing, if you want to push yourself, or simply try out something new, follow Chuck Palahniuk's advice.
xpost: http://vaysh11.dreamwidth.org/869177.html. Comments are welcome on both sites.
This is a post about why a sentence like this is lazy writing:
Draco stood at the lake, wondering why Harry had not come for the last three nights.
The One Rule of Creative Writing that rules them all is: Show Don't Tell.
"Show don't tell" is what makes writing literary, as opposed to journalistic or academic. It is what makes reading stories an engaging and powerful experience. It is how writers create worlds that may be just as "real" and authentic as the real world around us.
The problem with "show don't tell" is that it's not easy to teach. There is no clear-cut rule that I could post here, and then everybody gets it and we all are better writers. I understand something more about what all "show don't tell" means with every new story I write or edit.
Recently, teprometo collected writing advice, and a great collection of tips and links came together. Every comment is worth you attention but I was especially grateful that someone posted a link to this article:
A few amazing writing tips from Chuck Palahniuk.
Chuck Palahniuk's advice for writers is:
From this point forward-at least for the next half year-you may not use “thought” verbs. These include: Thinks, Knows, Understands, Realizes, Believes, Wants, Remembers, Imagines, Desires, and a hundred others you love to use.
What he is advising us is to not take all the little lazy tell short-cuts but really work and strive for showing. And to do so for at least half a year. Because obviously, we will need those "thought" verbs sometimes. But his advice is to consciously not use them for a while, and to see how your writing changes.
This advice is gold, people.
If you struggle with your writing, if you're bored/frustrated with your writing, if you want to push yourself, or simply try out something new, follow Chuck Palahniuk's advice.
xpost: http://vaysh11.dreamwidth.org/869177.html. Comments are welcome on both sites.