It's a pretty old rule of thumb in writing that you want to "show, not tell." That hasn't changed, but sometimes it's easier said than done and there are always exceptions to the rule because of course there are.
To get into the nitty-gritty, I present to you this piece by Meg LaTorre of iWriterly. Meg is a former literary agent who now writes sci-fi/fantasy novels. She also runs the iWriterly YouTube channel, a great resource for aspiring writers -- particularly those working in genre fiction (which I am not, but whatever).
Telling versus Showing is a common pitfall for many writers -- myself included -- so if you're just starting out on your own project, this will be eight minutes well spent.
Happy February! And it is a happy February, if for no other reason than I hate January.
No, that's not right: I HATE January. It's objectionably the worst: Even if you don't like the holidays, there's so much running around and busyness that the time flies by. Christmas is a flurry and then New Year's comes and goes right behind it and then you take down all the decorations and all you're left with is the cold, gray, stark reminder than there's nothing but cold grayness forever and ever... or at least until spring finally decides to show up. Nothing happens in January, and nobody wants to do anything because they're spent from the holidays. January is just a long waiting game, and it's tedious as shit.
You'd think with all that nothing going on, I might have torn through a ton of writing on Book #2. And while I have made some progress... not quite. I still struggle to keep momentum going, and I still question why I can't keep it going.
I did have a realization yesterday of something that has probably been contributing to my difficulties: my "second act" lacked focus.
I know it's a bit odd to frame my novel's story in terms of "acts," but from a story standpoint I find screenwriting video essays to be extremely illuminating (never mind that, to the disbelief of anyone who has ever met me, I've never had any strong desire to write a screenplay). My lightbulb moment came while cleaning the dining room and listening to Tyler Mowery's essay on "Common Mistakes Writers Make and How to Solve Them -- Act Two."
Oh and spoilers for Toy Story, I guess?
There's a lot of great stuff here, from examining escalation and progressive complications to simple breaking down the definition of an act. And it helped me realize that I was trying to blurt through my second act instead of letting the complications and tensions escalate -- good news for me, not so much for my protagonist.
Happy New Year! We're back, and happy to skip over the part where I re-examine my resolutions from 2019 (I went 1-for-4, which I reckon puts me on average with everyone else's New Year resolutions). What's important is that I've reloaded my Motivatometer [TM] to get through the first draft of Book #2.
I know I've alluded to Book #2 a fair bit at this point without really saying anything about it. Perhaps for another post...
But for today: One of the things I want to be mindful of is not to churn through the plot too quickly. While Book #2 has a mystery element, it is strongly character-focused and I don't want to lose sight of that -- particularly in the dialogue. I can already think of a few sequences I want to revisit but am fighting the temptation to do so until the first draft is completed.
Anyway, I reckon a good way to approach dialogue is to examine what the experts do, and who is more expert at dialogue than Quentin Tarantino? In this video essay, Henry from The Closer Look takes a... well, a closer look at Tarantino's writing.
On its face, last week's number isn't that bad. I wrote 2,335 words, which is obviously below the 500-a-day goal. Worse, I only wrote on four of those days... and one of them was to write last week's blog post. That technically counts but, c'mon...
On the flip side, I'm really happy with the work I have put in, and I'm starting to clear up the soupiness that is the second act of Book #2. It's not completely ironed out and none of that add to my word count. But still, but definition that's PROGRESS!
Speaking of definitions, I'm featuring this video by Lessons from the Screenplay because it does a great job of calling out the difference between Story Premise versus Story Design as well as the protagonist's Desire versus Need, all things that are easy to get mixed up.
As a bonus, Michael explains what I've long considered one of the great movie mysteries: How did James Cameron pull off the change from the slow-burn horror of Alien to the pulse-pounding action of Aliens?
I haven’t posted one of these in quite some time, but
there’s a lot to unspool in this featured video. Today I have for you a recent
post from Sage Hagen of Just Write with a topic I think even caught him
off-guard: The Incredible Storytelling
of South Korean Reality TV.
Okay, so the “unscripted” nature of a lot of reality TV
quickly because a running gag during the genre’s hey-day, but stay with me. I’m
not going to get into the muck about whether or not incidents are manufactured
or played up for the camera, because that has never interested me. Instead,
we’re looking at story structure.
There’s a lot of great stuff here. Let’s start with what I
think might be the most underrated take-away: Establishing characters early and allowing your audience to get to know
them beyond the main plot. This sounds simple, yet it’s thrown out the
window all the time. Just think of how many action movies or thrillers you’ve
seen that immediately begin with an extensive, intense chase scene, before
you’ve even had a clue about who is chasing who or why or even which character
you should be pulling for.
One technique I really enjoy – a true hallmark of caper
stories – is the flashback to a
different perspective. This allows the audience to see events again but not
from the protagonist’s perspective. That different perspective, accompanied
with the knowledge of what is going to happen, is a very satisfying way of
explaining a twist.
Finally we have the flash-forward which is used to create a story gap. This technique
draws the audience in by forcing them to ask a very specific question rather
than simply “what happens next?” You’ve seen this done a million times, but
when it’s done right (as it is in The
Genius and Breaking Bad, though I
tend to think of the mauled teddy bear in the swimming pool more than the iconic
opening scene), it’s incredibly compelling.
