I am sure we've all noticed that not one of my previous blog posts dive into the actual writing in any sort of detail, really. Mostly it's been all about anything other than putting words on a page that will eventually make sentences that will later graduate into paragraphs that will come to form entire chapters that will fill up your book . . . But I digress.
The point is, I have a reason for that, though no sort of excuse. The reason was that before August 15th, 2017, I did not write. Yes, bravo, Madison, for making a blog about writing at a time when you didn't even write. The nerve. Tsk, tsk. Anyway, that was about seven months ago, and I have been writing almost every day since—and in the same novel too!—so now my memory has been refreshed to what it's like to actually attempt to write a first draft of a novel. I would say ir's like giving birth (a very slow birth in my case), but I've never given birth before so I wouldn't really be knowing what I'm talking about. So instead of trying and probably failing to describe writing with the perfect simile, I'm going to try and make some sort of series-like-thing where we talk about one aspect of writing. I would start off with starting, but if you've read my previous blog you'd know we'd sort of covered that (The Blank Page.| 10/3/2016). The next best thing in my humble amateur opinion would be showing, not telling. Ah, yes. That phrase that every aspiring author hears once in their career. But what does it mean? Well, it means that you're supposed to show your reader what happened by using your MC's five senses and not simply tell the reader what happened. Okay, but what does that mean? Truth be told, I have no idea. But, I do have an inkling. First off, let's see some examples of both telling ang showing: Telling: So-and-so sat down. The sun was hot. Showing: So-and-so sat down on the hard metal chair, resenting that s/he was being forced to attend this boring speech. What made matters worse was the sun and the chair's joined efforts to bathe his/her body entirely in sweat. The difference is one is really boring to read and the other is hopefully not so boring. Yeah? So what? What does this have to do with your inkling? Glad you were wondering.I think it means you have to remember that your landscape is more than a backdrop. It has effects on your characters that they are going to feel and it will influence their moods, their actions, and/or their interactions. Instead of telling your reader that the sun was hot, you can show it through the effects the heat has on the body of your character. But I don't think that's all. What do the first sentences in both examples have in common? "So-and-so sat down." In as many cases as I have thought of, showing is just telling with more detail. So now you basically know what the showing part is in showing, not telling. Great. That's not all. Readers don't want to be reading big sentences rich with detail every time (showing). On the other side of the scale, they don't want to be reading short sentences every time (telling). This is where things get hard: you need some of both. This is where showing, not telling is not entirely true. It's more like a balancing scale than completely removing telling from the equation. The balance is different for every author due to their unique voice, but each side of the scale is necessary for good writing. If there are any officially published authors out their reading my blog, one) I would be truly honored to know you're reading, and two) feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in the comments. :)
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MeA good chunk of you already know who I am, considering I sent you here, but for those of you people who found my blog by accident, let me introduce myself. My name is Madison Anderson and I was born and spent little more than half my life in Oregon (US for those of you who don't know and don't want to look it up), so it's no wonder I like the rain. I'm obsessed with Disney (bought myself a Woody doll and I'm so happy :) ) and books. I'm now into drawing, and whenever I get around to it I plan on selling my work. You can visit my art page (someday it'll be website) at https://www.facebook.com/randomart17/?ref=bookmarks Archives
September 2017
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