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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

June 18th - Writing Tip

Writing Tip: I have been doing quite a bit of editing for other authors, and one of my recurring comments is stop "telling" your readers, start "showing" them.  Here is a short blurb which explains exactly what I've been trying to say:
 
CreateSpaceBlogger Show vs. Tell: Do You Know the Difference?
Posted by CreateSpaceBlogger on May 14, 2013 4:56:21 AM

"Show vs. tell" is a cardinal rule of writing, yet most first-time authors don't quite understand what it is. After years of trying to explain this concept, I believe I've finally come up with the perfect analogy: online dating!

Imagine this scenario, even if you're not on the market: You sign up for an online dating site, excited to (maybe) meet the person of your dreams - for this post, let's say that's a man. As you flip through profile after profile, you stumble across these two:

Profile A: "I'm an attractive, witty, adventurous man with a great sense of humor."

Hmmm...who says he's attractive? I'll be the judge of that when I see his photo. And why exactly is he witty? He hasn't said one witty thing. Adventurous? Why is he adventurous? Great sense of humor? Say what? Honey, I'm not laughing.

Profile A guy is telling me too much and showing me nothing. As a result I don't want to meet him, because unfortunately he sounds sort of full of himself.

Profile B: "For the record, if we hit it off, I'm totally willing to lie about how we met. Just throwing that out there. And speaking of throwing things out there, I recently jumped out of a plane for the first time. Holy frick."

Through his words, Profile B guy is showing me that he's witty, adventurous, and has a great sense of humor. And by showing me a photo, he's letting me decide whether or not he's attractive.

See the difference? That's what you want to do with your writing. Show the reader, don't tell the reader. Readers are smart and want to draw their own conclusions about your characters.

-Maria
https://createspacecommunity.s3.amazonaws.com/Resources Contributors/MurnaneHeadshot.jpg Maria Murnane is a paid CreateSpace contributor. She is the award-winning author of the romantic comedies Perfect on Paper, It's a Waverly Life, Honey on Your Mind, and Chocolate for Two. She also provides consulting services on book publishing and marketing. Learn more at www.mariamurnane.com.


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