More Comments About "Show Don't Tell"

“A good writer is not necessarily a good book critic. No more so than a good drunk is automatically a good bartender.” Jim Bishop



Show don’t Tell

First, let me apologize for the three-week lapse in postings. I had to take some time off for double by-pass heart surgery. That meant two weeks in the hospital and one week at home trying to recuperate and get myself back together. All turned out fine, the surgeons did a wonderful job and I’m feeling better and better, day-by-day.

Now on to today’s post. “Show don’t tell” the mantra of the fiction writer. I remember reading it, puzzling over it and being thoroughly confused by it. I kept writing and posting what I had written in the forums I belong to (there are two of them, Nick Daws Writing Circle and My Writing Friend) and getting the same critiques each and every time. “More showing, less telling.” they would shout.

I really had a tough time trying to tell the difference. Well, to make a long story short, I finally took an online class (Robyn Opie’s master class, Show don’t Tell.) It worked, as I imagine any online class focusing on this subject would. At one point I picked up a comment by a writer who said he always tried for about 75% show and 25% tell in his novels. I tried it but found that I always wound up getting bogged down in descriptions and narration.

Now, I’m trying something new. I got a free program called Cinergy Script Editor as an added bonus on the Nick Daws 28 day writing course. It’s a free program. I recommend Nick’s course, it covers lots of ground and is very helpful. However if one just wants Cinergy Script it can be found at http://www.mindstarprods.com/. It’s a full working version and is free.

Anyway, to get to the point, I’ve started writing my short stories using Cinergy Script, which is all dialogue, then copying it to MS Word and filling in the details that I want the reader to see. This has really cut down on the amount of telling in my stories. I’m not adept at this technique yet but soon will be. Comments are always welcome. Regards, Aelf





Sites to see, places to go and groups to join

My Writing Friend: mailto:writingfriend@yahoo.com

Nick Daws Writers Circle:Click link on this page.

Writing Workshop: http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/

Newbie Writers: http://www.newbiewriters.com/

Writers Prompts: http://writingfix.com/

Duotrope Digest: http://www.duotrope.com/digest.

I’ll be adding to the above list as time goes on and I find more newbie friendly sites.