Sandra’s book is free on Kindle.
One of the most important quotes from the book for a friend at Writers Bloc is, “Combine emotion markers to avoid ambiguity.” She explains that using body/facial language can be ambiguous. She suggests combining body language, dialogue, or internal monologue to make it clear.
Sandra’s book is full of concrete changes anybody can apply to their manuscript.
Telling gives conclusions and interpretations, summaries, reportage, being abstract, giving facts, not that telling doesn’t have its place. Such as to cover unimportant details, transitions, repeated info, &/or events, pacing, context (to give), & suspense.
An author may slip into telling by the improper use of adverbs and adjectives when strong verbs are needed. Avoid linking verbs such as is/was, felt appeared. The slip occurs when using emotion words such as surprise, anger, amazement, confusion or filters such as saw, smelled, heard, felt, watched, noticed, realized, wondered, knowing and more. If this isn’t clear, you are not alone. I took each word, as if I were picking fruit loops out of the bowl and munching one by one. Best to read because my blog could not possibly cover this subject in a short format.
Here’s one less than obvious example:
Telling: His mom would arrive soon.
Showing: Mom would arrive soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment