Over on Facebook, I got some pushback to last week’s article “The difference between Storytelling and Dramatization.” One Facebook commenter noted that the “before” examples given in show vs. tell articles like mine are “often deliberately and obviously poor by any standards.” She’s talking about examples like the one I …
Category: Writing
The difference between Storytelling and Dramatization
In his excellent book The Art & Craft of Writing Christian Fiction, Jeff Gerke urges novel-writers to stop seeing themselves as storytellers and instead think of themselves as filmmakers. As you’re examining your manuscript for telling consider this: If your book were a movie, what would the camera record? In …
Use Narrative Summary Appropriately
Last time, I said Inappropriate Narrative Summary was one of the main “telling” problems I see in manuscripts. Sometimes summary is appropriate. When your hero has to make a long journey, but the journey itself isn’t what’s important to the story, you could put “he traveled across the Atlantic that …
What does ‘show don’t tell’ mean, anyway?
Writers are forever being told “show don’t tell.” I even put it on my Elements of Fiction Editing Checklist: ☐ The author is showing and not telling. But what does this mean? And with every writing instructor in the business teaching this all the time, why do we still see …
Use a voice that’s appropriate to your genre
If, like every good writer, you are reading a lot in your genre, you should have a good feel for what kind of voice is typical. But good writers also read widely. If you have done so, especially if you’ve read a lot of the classics, an “antique” voice can …
Use an engaging narrative voice
Whether the narrative is written from the POV of a character or a narrator, it must be engaging. Narrative is everything in the novel that’s not dialogue or interior monologue. So it’s a big chunk of the work, and it must grab the reader. That’s why I caution against Generic …
Voice in fiction is different
A fiction writer has a personality, a style, that carries across books. But the voice in a particular piece of writing may differ from others by the same author depending on the point of view. Which is why I have two different items on my checklist. The appropriate one for …
What voice is and why an author needs one
In the writing business, we often speak of a writer’s voice. This is a complex topic, but it’s simpler for nonfiction writers. Your voice is your personality on paper. Writers are often told “write as you speak,” but that is an oversimplification. What we mean when we say that is …
Upcoming writers conferences
I am a big believer in writers attending conferences. Next to belonging to a great critique group, it’s the best thing you can do for your writing career. You’ll build relationships with writers and others in the business that will help you pursue your career. You’ll take classes to improve …
What is Speculative Fiction, anyway?
One of the great things about attending the Realm Makers conference is that when you say you write fantasy, people grin and say “cool, what kind of fantasy?” and then let you go on about whether you have dragons and magic or not. Because unlike other Christian writers conferences, this …