Show the readers everything, tell them nothing. ― Ernest Hemingway Writers are frequently admonished to show not tell, but what does that mean exactly? I’m no master yet, but Mary Buckham’s recent Body Language and Emotion class has helped a lot. (Seriously, if you get the chance to take anything she teaches, spend the money.)
My writing education has a theme. I cannot learn and apply a new concept or technique until my brain is ready for it. I’ve read book after book and taken numerous classes on all aspects of writing. Characterization, point of view, dialog, plotting, and so on. But often, even if I see the value of
Now that my (very) rough draft is complete, I’m working my way through Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass, and applying it to my current MS. Chapter 2 is called Opening Extra Character Dimensions, and it is a real eye opener. It’s a great exercise–similar to one I did at a workshop by
Today’s blog is also posted at: http://romancemagicians.blogspot.com/2010/01/refrigerated-writing.html. Is your writing fresh and new? How can you tell? I was recently catching up on Janet Reid’s great agent blog, and she addressed this very issue. After discussing how she handled the 122 of 124 writers she chose not to represent in 2009 (!), she gave some advice for
In August, I had the good fortune to attend a workshop by Mary Buckham and Dianna Love based on their great book, Break Into Fiction (hereafter called BIF). I read the book beforehand, and went through the workshop thinking how great all of the templates are because they force you to answer the tough questions