showing not telling Archives - SavvyAuthors

Show and Tell by Leslie Scott

Here it is, the scariest sentence in all of fiction publishing: I’m going to need more showing and less telling. I’m sure if you’ve ever submitted to an editor, agent, or contest at some point you’ve heard “I need you to show me what is happening here, not tell me about it” or some …

Classes & Workshops Craft Description/ Setting SavvyBlog Tension/Pacing Voice World Building

Show Don’t Tell is a Layer Cake by Sandy Vaile

I’m Sandy Vaile, a romantic-suspense writer who was a chef in a past life, hence all the food analogies in my workshops. Everyone has heard the “show don’t tell” adage, but it’s not always an easy thing to understand and apply to your own work. It is often confusing, because it’s riddled with contradictions and …

SavvyBlog Tension/Pacing

Deus Ex Machina Is Just Failed Foreshadowing by Terry Odell

Prepare the reader. Johnny Carson said, “If they buy the premise, they’ll buy the bit.” So, you have to sell the premise early on. You can’t stop to explain a skill set at the height of the action. You have to show the character using those skills (or fears) early on, in a ‘normal’ setting. Think …

Characters Description/ Setting POV Tension/Pacing Voice

Write What You Know, Fill the Well by Jaye Garland

We’ve all heard the phrases, “write what you know,” and “fill the well,” but what do those concepts actually mean? In short, get actual life events that you (or someone you know) have experienced down in story form, but make the events bigger, brighter, better. What? You don’t think you’ve lived a colorful life? Of …