Show Dont Tell Is For Babies

portion of this video is sponsored by Pro writing Aid there's lot of writing advice out there but none as popular as the age-old wisdom show don't tell you've likely heard it as long as you've been interested in writing and don't know if you're like me and you heard it in an English class back in like fourth grade or you've just recently encountered this bit of advice because you've just recently found your passion for writing but whatever the case is this little phrase is everyone's first introduction into creative writing advice but just like your first pair of pants you've probably outgrown it that's weird don't know why wrote that okay I'm being petty but let's just get few things out of the way if you haven't already come join us in the Discord we have an awesome community of hundreds of writers who are there sharing their work and giving great feedback and posting resources and tips and so much more we have people who have just started their writing journey and people who are published authors check out the Discord link below and come join us if you're starting your writing Journey check out my four-part playlist on writing my debut novel Starlight Farms Kel for talking dogs it takes you through every single step of writing book if you've ever asked the question how do you write book then this series answers all of those questions from planning to publishing and buy copy of the book while you're at it it's guaranteed to make you tear up okay so now for what you came here to talk about why is show don't tell for babies let's start with this question what makes popular writing advice not good writing advice but popular writing advice there is difference show don't tell is maybe the most popular bit of writing advice would think that every englishspeaking writer has encountered this phrase which begs the question writers who speak different languages do you have any writing advice to share that maybe we haven't heard of post it in the comments below think that would be really interesting to see the most popular bits of writing advice that I've encountered usually have two things one catchy marketing and two broad appeal Kill Your Darlings is another great example of writing advice that we hear over and over mostly because it sounds cool show don't tell is just as catchy it's easy to repeat and that broad appeal mean it doesn't get more General than show don't tell okay before we go any further we should Define what this bit of writing advice is maybe you've heard it before maybe you've internalized it but maybe you've never really put definition in place because this is so broad different authors have different interpretations of what this means for example would Define show don't tell as writing in way that allows the audience to determine information through subtext rather than an author writing that information on page that's the technical definition technical writer remember quick Google search gives us this definition from Jericho writers rather than telling readers what's happening authors use this technique to show drama unfold on the page telling is factual and avoids detail while showing is detailed and places the human subject at the center of of the drama this is one definition of show don't tell and we'll get to the second definition of this in bit but let's first talk about what this means show don't tell is often understood as how to present information on the page mean that's my definition of it and that's the Jericho writers definition too but here's the deal though this is writing advice for the very start of your writing journey and that's it this advice should get you into the mindset of how to effectiv write about characters and plots once you have internalized that you should discard this advice throw it away you should stop repeating it like it's law if you have this printed out somewhere grab it off the wall throw it away there are some authors that take this advice as mantra to judge their work and take editing advice from but it's not like that show don't tell is beginner advice and it should be treated as such why do say this because show don't tell isn't rule to be followed it is that mindset and treating it like rule is holding you as an author back in order to Showcase what really mean here let's talk about when show don't tell should be ignored one of the best books read this year is the will of the mini by James Islington did whole video on how fantastic this book handled firstperson perspective and in that video talked about how the author went against show don't tell and how the book was so much better for it show don't tell puts the effort of interpretation to the reader and in lot of cases that's what you want you want the reader actively invested and participating in the events and the characters of your book you want the reader reading between the lines of the character dialogue to find the real meaning of what your characters saying and when character can't bring thems to say love you to another character how do they still present that meaning without saying those words this is classic show don't tell but in the will of the many political conversations with subtext and hidden goals happen in nearly every page having the reader working to interpret this subtext throughout the whole book can lead to failure in two ways first what what if the reader gets their interpretation wrong and second having this much subtext means that the reading experience could get really tiring if you're always trying to determine what each character knows what's their goals what you know whatever the case may be so James Islington writes this story in the first person and we're having all of this information interpreted for us through the perspective of the main character viz which means that the author is pretty often telling us things like we know that this other character is lying but why are they lying they must want to see if we know that they're lying and they're looking for our reaction so we got to play it cool that's telling that's classic telling that's what show don't tell tells you not to do so clearly this isn't hard and fast rule so why has this stuck around for so long and why is it repeated so often well hard to argue against the fact that new Authors are often telling us information and show don't tell can steer them towards this new mindset that an author needs to have in order to do higher level writing if that makes sense so would equate this idea of show don't tell more like skill to gain rather than Perpetual rule to follow once you've gained the skill of using show don't tell you should also then know how and when to ignore it now told you that show don't tell has second definition and this second definition can be more longlasting rule to follow while emerging writers will follow that first definition established writers those who are actively growing through writing and sharing their work might follow this Mantra through different lens in my interview with Rob Hayes back in this video took minute to ask him his thoughts about couple different popular bits of writing advice and asked him about show don't tell and he returned with this definition Rob so think the the major thing for me about show don't tell the thing that take away from it is it's about Exposition there is right way and wrong way to do Exposition in my head and the the sort of like the right way is to hide it for me prefer to hide my Exposition in things like character dialogue it be external or in inner dialogue rather than just here's an info dump of like something that the reader needs to know so yeah for me it's it's it's very much your your showing the the way the world Works rather than just like here's dry bit of explanation that you're getting textbook for the magic system by the way Rob's new series The God Eater Saga is linked down below check it out he's created an incredibly cool and fun world to just get lost in it's awesome really check it out taking show don't tell in terms of exposition instead of just writing detail on page gives us much more useful Mantra that we can follow as we grow in writing once you learn about presenting detail that basic skill of creative writing you can take show don't tell in way that truly serves you as you continue to grow presenting Exposition in your writing is one of the biggest hurdles for writers even those that have put out books into the world Robert mcke in his book dialogue defines Exposition as the amount of information the reader needs to know to be invested in the story for lot of writers this means really focusing on the details of the world around the characters in like the first third of the book that they're writing I've created this really cool world and here's how it works and everything you need to know and when that's done poorly it comes out as big info dump wall of dry text that only does one thing it tells the reader about the world think of the scrolling text at the start of the Star Wars movie that is info dump at its best if you've come across Exposition like this then you know why so many authors really work to avoid this this info dump can turn away readers more than anything else especially if you do it time and time time again if you're worried about writing wall of exposition in your story then our sponsor Pro writing Aid can help Pro writing Aid is the complete storytellers toolkit it has all of the tools that you need to make sure that your writing is as strong as it can be picked up lifetime membership to Pro writing Aid four years ago because knew the value was going to get and since then I've used Pro writing aid for all kinds of things the desktop everywhere extension lets you get their powerful editing reports anywhere that you can enter text and this is big because it means that Pro writing Aid integrates with any writing tool that you use whether you write with Google Docs or Microsoft Word or obsidian or scrier Pro writing Aid has you covered Pro writing Aid has all kinds of reports to improve your writing some reports that find really useful are the sentence variety and the readability reports these reports help me make sure that my stories don't feel too bland to read other reports like the critique report look at more than just the words on your story The critique report gives you feedback on your pacing that's the exposition part on your characters on your dialogue and more it's like having an editor looking over your shoulder any time that you need that help try Pro writing Aid now and use my code writing Theory 10 at checkout to get 10% off of your order thanks to Pro writing Aid Rob Hayes works his Exposition into anything but narration we learn alongside the characters through dialogue and interaction and action and you can look at his series Titan hoppers for great examples of that for real love that series link below by adjusting our understanding of show don't tell this little Mantra actually becomes something perpetually useful but it takes that graduation from how we learned show don't tell and changing how we use it it doesn't take long for you to internalize the idea of descriptive writing of writing character in action and details in such way that the reader is involved with that experience that's the showing part right once you internalize that method of writing you can move on to bigger and better writing and this comes with whole new host of challenges if you want to grow as writer and continue this lifelong journey of improvement in art then subscribe to this Channel want you to grow with me try to be completely transparent about my writing process my challenges my successes and my failures so that we can all grow together and again you should check out the Discord link below and join us there for great conversations riding challenges and more and as always thank you for watching