don't let your skill in writing deter you. publishers look for the storyline, not always excellent writing. many of the greatest books came from mediocre writers—and also excellent and terrible ones.
keep writing even when it sucks. you don't know how to write this battle scene yet? skip ahead. write [battle scene here] and continue. in the end, you'll still have a book—and you can fill in the blanks later.
find your motivation. whether it's constantly updating That One Friend or posting your progress, motivation is key.
write everything down. everything. you had the perfect plot appear to you in a dream? scribble down everything you can remember as so as you can. I like to keep cue cards on my nightstand just in case.
play with words. titles, sentences, whatever. a lot of it will probably change either way, so this is the perfect opportunity to try out a new turn of phrase—or move along on one you're not quite sure clicks yet.
explain why, don't tell me. if something is the most beautiful thing a character's ever laid eyes on, describe it—don't just say "it's beautiful".
ask for critique. you will always be partial to your writing. getting others to read it will almost always provide feedback to help you write even better.
stick to the book—until they snap. write a character who is disciplined, courteous, and kind. make every interaction to reinforce the reader's view as such. but when they're left alone, when their closest friend betrays them, when the world falls to their feet...make them finally break.
magic. has. limits. there is no "infinite well" for everyone to draw from, nor "infinite spells" that have been discovered. magic has a price. magic has a limit. it takes a toll on the user—otherwise why can't they simply snap their fingers and make everything go their way?
read, read, read. reading is the source of inspiration.
first drafts suck. and that's putting it gently. ignoring all the typos, unfinished sentences, and blatant breaking of each and every grammar rules, there's still a lot of terrible. the point of drafts is to progress and make it better: it's the sketch beneath an oil painting. it's okay to say it's not great—but that won't mean the ideas and inspiration are not there. first drafts suck, and that's how you get better.
write every day. get into the habit—one sentence more, or one hundred pages, both will train you to improve.
more is the key to improvement. more writing, more reading, more feedback, and you can only get better. writing is a skill, not a talent, and it's something that grows with you.
follow the rules but also scrap them completely. as barbossa wisely says in PotC, "the code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules". none of this is by the book, as ironic as that may be.
write for yourself. I cannot stress this enough. if what you do is not something you enjoy, it will only get harder. push yourself, but know your limits. know when you need to take a break, and when you need to try again. write for yourself, and you will put out your best work.
– At long last, it is finally here; The long awaited guide to showing instead of telling. This is obviously a very divisive subject in the writing community, so if there’s something you disagree with, that’s totally fine. These are simply my tips based on my own experience and you can take or leave whatever is useful to you. I hope this is helpful. Happy writing!
It is important to note that showing is mainly about conveying exactly what you mean to your reader. Telling is so dangerous in writing because it’s very easy for readers to interpret information that is told to them in a way that throws off any one of the elements of your scene. The best way to catch these instances of telling is to identify moments in which a reader could ask “what do they mean?”
Take those moments, for instance, if you were to write, “the woman was pretty”, and clarify what pretty is in the context of your story, or your perspective as the author. People have different definitions and associations to words, and your job, when it comes to showing, is to make your definitions and associations as clear as possible.
Use Strong Verbs
Showing does not mean telling in a more roundabout way. It means taking a bland description without any imagery and rewriting it in a way that paints a picture in your reader’s mind. You do this by using strong verbs and powerful words. For instance, instead of saying “hit, looked, walked”, you’d say “struck, peered, trudged”. See what I mean?
Balance
As a writer, you need to understand that there are no hard rules. There must be balance to everything, and despite how universal this “rule” may seem, you should know that it’s not that black and white. Here are two tips to help you keep balance between showing and telling.
Don’t overwhelm your reader with information that is unnecessary. If your reader can continue without knowing a detail, don’t include it, and don’t justify keeping it to yourself because you want to bulk up the word count or sound fancy.
When you’re telling, be brief about it and make sure that the inclusion of the detail is imperative to your reader advancing in the story.
Showing Through Dialogue
Dialogue is a really great way to show a reader character traits that showing through description never could. The way a person speaks, the words they choose, the manner in which they respond to things, are all great ways to give your reader information about that character. Use this to your advantage so that you don’t have to spend extra time describing it later.
When You Should “Tell”
When the number of words it would take to show instead of tell a piece of information isn’t worth your reader’s time
When you’re essentially repeating information the reader already knows. In this case, you’d say “so-and-so explained what she had said” instead of reiterating what she said and reaching a point where your writing is redundant.
When you want the reader to form their own emotions around the events in a scene, rather than planting them in their mind. Telling allows for the reader to have some emotional freedom, but this should come in little bits. Approach this excuse to tell with caution.
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Conor Kenway Now, this was my favourite assassin before I stopped doing fan art. And I recently found a bunch of my old stuff on my old deviant art acc to which I can’t even remember my log in ….Seems like I really really loved this boy XD
If you are a white kid with a positive relationship (as in they are not abusing you and generally like you as a kid and want you to like them) with a casually racist family member have you considered guilt tripping them? It's been a highly effective tactic with my grampa. When he used to pop off with shit I wouldn't give him a dissertation like my mom and uncle did bcus he'd just dig in his heels and argue. Instead, I found a well placed "wow :( no it's fine I just like idk. I didn't know you were like that :(((( " worked WONDERS. If you want to deradicalize people, don't focus on writing essays for random trolls online. Just make your racist family feel bad for being racist. You might even be able to sneak some idk facts and logic into them after you've been doing that consistently while hanging out.
god, this is super random, but could you by chance post john’s drawing of a possum? it’s my fav animal and he is one of my fav character but i always forget to not study it as arthur so i’ve never seen it😭 thank you either way, i love your blog <3
u ever have on mutuals whos so deep in another fandom that u know absolutely zero about and they make posts that look like they speaking another language or some shit
i really appreciate the number of mutuals who are not in any of my fandoms sharing this post. its like a little hello nod as we pass each other in the hall
solidsilver
sonorankid
