I think "show don't tell" works a lot better as a rule in visual media. For example, its better to show a villain being threatening than to have characters sit around talking about how threatening he is, only for him to show up when it's time for him to be defeated.
Nah it can work well in both mediums if you want to get across that a castle has been at the center of a lot of conflicts its much easier to simply say "Looking up mr guy noticed the scars of cannons upon the outer walls and as he entered the courtyard saw that the banners hanging on the walls were bright and new despite the seemingly ancient furniture besides it" rather then some clumsily forced in exposition
@@Otto_Von_Beansmarck "Despite the seemingly ancient furniture beside it" is exposition. It's also interesting that you define exposition with the modifier "clumsy," as if exposition is itself clumsy by nature, when in reality, most of the books you've likely ever read have been filled to the brim and overflowing with exposition. Harry Potter. Hunger Games. Tom Clancy novels. Louis L'Amour whose economy of words is brilliant, still loads up his story with exposition. What you're suggesting would remove the primary advantage that novels have over visual mediums, and also fly in the face of pretty much every good novel ever written.
Agreed. In writing, its harder to show than tell. It would throw off pacing by randomly jumping to the villain. Works in dual POV, but single POVS it never does.
@@Selrisitai I meant clumsily *forced* exposition trying to convey that the way the exposition is introduced is clumsy rather then exposition as a whole being clumsy and I think we have different definitions of exposition I would typically use it to refer to a character simply explaining what something is (I do think it can be used very well especially when it tells us something about the character giving the exposition) rather then the book using visuals and actions to explain it also Louis L'amour is awesome
It seems that the problem is us, not the advice. We make everything extreme and we don’t understand the reasons behind the advice. “Write what you know” becomes “write ONLY what you know.” “Show, don’t tell” becomes “show all the time, don’t tell at all.” “Prologues are bad” becomes “all prologues are bad.” “Make your characters likable” becomes “you must make your characters likable.”
This isn't the first time I've heard someone object to the advice "write what you know." And every time I hear that objection, I think, But if you're doing research to prepare yourself to write about something you don't already know about, then you'll still be writing what you know in the end. And you better do enough research that you *do* know about what you're writing about. You don't want to make an ass of yourself. And not doing research is particularly irresponsible if you're writing about a particular group of people who exist in real life (obviously doesn't apply if you're writing fantasy). Especially if it's a group of people that is overly stereotyped and marginalized. I'd say, "Write what you know, or make sure you know what you write before you write it."
>_> _> So NO ONE sees the irony with this logic. WRITER says "Write what you know" and reader interprets that as "write ONLY what you know." And the fault is... the READER. So if I pitch a story about a Dragon Doctor, and you think it's about a Dragon who is a Doctor, not a Doctor for Dragons... who is at fault, or rather as the writer who should I assume is at fault? I would say if readers don't understand my writing, then the fault is with me, not everyone else. I am not saying we as readers never misinterpret things, but if so many people do it, then at least some blame is on the writer. (come on everyone hate on me for saying that writing advice can be poorly worded).
The absolute worst piece of advice was from my parents, who were horrified that I was only trying to write a page a day. They insisted that I *needed* to be churning out at least 3-5 pages a day, every day... despite neither of them ever trying to do any writing in their lives, outside of schoolwork.
I know the feeling. Took me nearly 4 years to complete my master's degree thesis and my mom would always put excessive pressure on me... But I finished it this month (FINALLY !!!!!). Sure, I mean, it's also 315 pages, which is closer to a doctorate, research-wise and content-wise, but I always wrote at least a paragraph everyday (unless I was sick). Kept me mentally healthy throughout my productivity.
A page a day does sound dangerously slow, at least to me. When I write, I tend to finish the first draft in 1 - 3 months (some material is easier than others). Normally, I'd do 10,000 words on a great day and some days I just would dry up and not write a thing. I think the best technique and the next one I intend to use is just aim for 1,000 a day and worry it to bits whilst writing it. It'll make editing a lot easier and 70 days to write a novel working flat out doesn't sound to intimidating. 140 days? I could see life getting in the way or just too much self doubt creeping in as to whether or not there's any point pressing on. Ultimately, it's what's best for you (and try different techniques). As a side note, I'm giving my lockdown novel away for free on TH-cam: #ZenAndTheArtOfSavingLifeOnEarth. The first draft took 90 days where some days I plodded on, others I froze. I just didn't know what I could get away with saying.
I once attended a (taped) lecture series by a writer I admired. She laid down many rules for writing (One was "No dream sequences!") I noted these down on sheets of paper and envelopes and whatever I had. When the series was over, I set these papers up all around my computer and... I didn't write a word for two years. I finally threw them all in the trash, and then I could write. Advice can be good in the planning stage, and in the editing stage, but when you're seat in chair and fingers on keyboard, let advice go right straight to hell. When you're in that position, it's all you.
"No dream sequences" oh, well I guess Alice in Wonderland should have been thrown out, nevermind that it's a beloved childhood classic, it has a dream in it!
Rather than saying, for example, that “show don’t tell” is bad writing advice, I find it better to highlight the importance of balance. Yes, describing every little detail of what a character looks like can really drag on the story for a lot of genres but just telling us “she was angry” may not be as immersive as describing what that looks/feels like. We don’t want to “show” everything as it will likely slow the story down and make things confusing but we don’t want to “tell” everything as this will likely make for a more bland and less immersive story.
'Show, don't tell' (note the punctuation) is good teaching advice. In writing it means, 'don't tell the reader what to feel, describe something that makes them feel it'. Detailed descriptions of characters make me feel like I'm reading a fashion magazine.
"Show don't tell" IS bad writing advice. "Show or tell as appropriate for the scene and pacing" is good writing advice. It's more about flow than balance.
"Write what you know" is an often misunderstood bit of advice. Pretentious college professors and amateur writers seem to think that it means writing pedestrian autobiographical fiction, but what it really means is that you should write something you're passionate about and know well. For example, if you love horror, write horror. If you know the structure of a romance inside and out, write one. Research, or the lack of it, is completely incidental in terms to what that phrase means.
And how did you know that what you "know"? By trying it out. Why do you like thriller? Because you tried it out. Why do you like phabtasy? Because you stumbled upon something new and... tried it out. A friend of mine published multiple Crime stories and is decently succesfull. One day she decided "I want to write a phantasy" Guess what? She started to figure it out. Like everybody does at some point. In my country we only have soccer as a popular sport. In 2015 I read an article about Steph Curry. I got fascinated and started digging deeper and deeper. So I went from a Steph Curry Highlight reel Stan to a guy who actually knows rules of basketball, watches it on a regular basis and plays it in my free time. I decided that it interests me enough to do research about it, when I was like 27 and didnt even know what a goaltend was or that it exists.
I agree with this. I think we all have our unique perspectives/expertise whether from our professions, personal exposure or specialized hobbies/interests, and being able to leverage that in our writing lends us some degree of authenticity that another writer won't be able to do.
@@InfernosReaper Oh certainly. I did not mean to suggest that research has no place in the writing process, just that it is its own separate part of the process.
@@thejawgz6719 Fair. I was mainly pointing out that once one studies something, it does become what they know. Then again, thinking about it, if someone's just making up a setting or whatever, then they are automatically writing what they know, because they're creating it... Unless they're carry on a story well past their ability to remember things in it and refuse to make notes, like Araki or Toriyama.
My understanding of "show don't tell" has more to do with characterization. You don't want to have other characters talking expositively about what a badass/genuis/creep a character is, you want to have action in the story that shows the character being a baddas/genius/creep. Great video, thanks.
But then you run into a problem, and I'll demonstrate it by asking a simple question: Should other characters _not_ talk about your character's qualities? I think the obvious answer is that of course they should. So the issue would only be if you have the other characters talk about how amazing he is, but then never demonstrate it or make it believable in any way.
Mark Twain wrote the Prince and the Pauper and a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, so what he meant by "write what you know" certainly didn't mean you had to only write about what you experienced yourself. Maybe he meant do write what you know (as well as what you can imagine) because your firsthand experience would be valuable for others to read.
I feel like a lot of todays TV writing suffers from the inclination in hollywood to have writers tell their story. While telling ones story sounds great, we may be too close to our own story to convey it honestly. A failing which leads to stories about yet another Mary Sue enduring the melodramatic antagonism of the one dimensional others. A writer should be adept at understanding and conveying other peoples stories. And not just the protagonist, but also the elements of influence which constitute their environment. Including the other characters with their own conflicting, yet valid perspectives.
All movies are written by writers. It sounds dumb but the realization made me understand that not even movies about movies themselves know what they're talking about. The only profession that is consistently researched in movie scripts are the script writers themselves... Notice they're almost always shown sympathetically. Of course most writers had other jobs at some point in their lives but that experience is limited. What I mean is that _if people only wrote what they knew every movie character would be moonlighting as a screenwriter._
Ik this might be controversial but I feel like Spielberg kind of fell into this trap with The Fabelmans. Spielberg is a brilliant director but considering the amount of movies he makes they get muddled sometimes, and idk i think he really indulged in his own past where it got super messy and very weird, almost hysterical. I think he was dealing with some unprocessed trauma I guess
@@GuineaPigEveryday Idk I haven't seen the Fabelman's but the concept sounds interesting and I don't know entertaining to learn more about a fictionalized Spielberg esq person. However yes I understand that may be Self indulgent.
I tried 20 years ago to write a novel. I quit. I was really bad in telling stories. I was too young, unexperienced and not really a natural talent. However, those first pathetic five pages haunted me all this time long ever since I read aloud to my writing workshop's teacher. You should have seen his face. I felt so embarrassed that I quit that workshop too. Two years ago, I started again about the same topic and currently about to finish it. It feels different now. Still a newbie. That hasn't changed but more experienced indeed. Your comments and advices help me a lot. I have to review some parts. I thank you for sharing your knowledge. Best luck I wish you.
"Make active characters" definitely confused me. I wasted years creating characters that ran around a lot in reaction to events that befell them. Basically, I wrote hyperactive reactors. I now believe that the advice should be to write decisive characters. Events should impose dilemmas on characters forcing them to choose an option. A story's plot should be driven by bad decisions, not bad luck. So "make active characters" is really about plot.
It's weird that we've all heard bite-sized advice that, for some reason, we take as a full-course meal. "Make active characters" is not useful. It may be useful within the context of a LESSON or LECTURE, but not by itself because it assumes that if you have a main character who is lazy, then you aren't allowed to write that story or the story will automatically fail, which is clearly foolish.
Or lean in the other way and write a story about a very indecisive character. Could be a great comedy! But yes, point taken. Generally passive characters are a snooze fest.
Advice #3 - "A lot of times what happens when it comes to research ... what new writers are doing is they're actually procrastinating. They're afraid to actually write the book" Damn so true!
"Show don't tell" is actually a good advice... for audiovisual media. That seems to be the problem with that advice because it's not interpreted correctly. It encourages directors and visual media creators so that they can say more in the screen and show a lot in emotions and meaning in a well thought frame, instead of using exposition alone which usually can be boring. I like how you reinterpret that advice with that bit with "dresses like someone twice her age", because that actually follows the same idea of expressing something within a simple phrase rather that a lot of unnecesary clumped detail.
I personally would encourage the opposite: Tell, don't show. Exposition is a writer's primary tool, and if you don't believe me, pick up any book you like from your shelf and I can almost guarantee that it will have tons of exposition. Even hyper fast-paced, entertaining stories like the Dresden Files are loaded with literally paragraphs upon paragraphs of exposition.
@@Selrisitai got to have a mix. show don't tell also means things like don't just describe the villain as an asshole. don't just have every reference just tell me he's evil and mean or even just that he commited atrocities years ago. make it come up. either when we meet him have him being rude with the language he uses. have him actively affecting the world around the POV characters even if he's not physically present like say have them encounter people affected by his villainy and demonstrate what it has done to them.
This is a misunderstanding of what 'show' and 'tell' mean in this context. Show is basically setting a scene and letting that scene convey information to your audience. Ned Stark beheaded the kneeling deserter. "The man who gives the sentence should swing the sword," he told his son. Tell is spoon feeding the information to your audience. Ned Stark was a stern but fair man.
Both meanings are valid because they are dependant on the medium. Something visual can get away with no words at all, as long as the actions are clear enough for the audience to understand. For a literal piece of text like a book, of course it is about giving exposition through the story's reality rather than a character or the narrator stopping time to elaborate for 20 minutes about how nice someone is.
I like number 8. A protagonist doesn't need to look positive or competent to make them more likeable. I feel like a protag with actual and ovbious flaws like being hated or imcopetent is more interesting as long as they progress well as the story goes on. The important thing is to let the protag get their goals in the end.
Even listening to published authors is not always the best advice because their advice worked for THEM to get published....something else may work for you
As for #3... I find that I do research as I go. For example, I had a scene in my story where two people are fighting violently, and the fight spills into the back of a leather tannery where various tools and instruments are then used as make-shift weapons during the sprawling fight... turns out, I had to do a lot of research on tanning tools, specifically medieval leather working tools for a fight scene that lasted all of two or three pages. It was a nuisance, it brought productivity to a screeching halt, but it was crucial in establishing a believable world setting, and it's one of the things in my story I am most proud of. #5... I will admit that I smiled at this one. The entire first volume of my light novel series is a prologue. LOL #7... I find a lot of writing guides to be tedious and self-serving to the authors that wrote them. Elements of Style is what I tell people to avoid alongside Lynne Truss's _Eats, Shoots & Leaves_. That being said, I think it's wrong to dismiss writing guides altogether. If I may offer, Bad Writing Advice #11 - Only Write Dynamic Characters. False. A good character that grows over the course of a story and has some profound life-altering event where their world view is shattered and they become a better person at the end is not always required. In fact it's becoming cliche to the point of laughable to expect this of every main character. A static character is just as great and can be just as compelling. Dynamic characters are changed by their outward encounters, people, events. Static characters change the world, those around them, through their encounters and the events they share. In a nutshell, a dynamic character is surrounded by static characters, and a static character is surrounded by dynamic characters.
I am with you all the way on ALL this advice, Brandon! I just finished a novel that takes place for a short time in the 1920s. I did my research AS I was writing. I looked up music of the period, popular slang terms, and types of vehicles owned by the characters when I needed them. I really appreciate your videos and suggestions!!!
That seems a lot less stressful than doing all the research before hand. I would argue that doing that would discourage me from writing historical fiction.
@@channel45853 I found if I "researched" material beforehand, I wasted a lot of time looking up information I really didn't need. Fortunately, my mom was born in 1915 and I remember incidents she shared with me about her childhood.
It's a horribly insidious piece of non-advice that results in stories like this: "John looked and his face contorted in agony as he held his stomach. The plane lifted off and he clenched his fists and tears fell down his cheeks." Instead of poetically writing how agonizing it was to witness his girlfriend leave forever, we instead just show a bunch of physical actions that have NO emotional impact whatsoever. But, hey, at least we're "showing," lol.
This could fall under the one right way, but any absolutist advice about adverbs, grammar, or punctuation choice is bad. There are conventions and it is valuable to know and understand them, but slavish obedience to them strangles the writer's voice slowly but surely.
Show don't tell doesnt literally mean "show objective details". It means use subtext, reveal things about your characters by their actions and avoid on the nose dialogue. Oftentimes, withholding information adds an extra layer of intrigue to keep the reader hooked - as opposed to exposition dumping all information as soon as it comes up in the story. Ellen Brock has some great videos about this
As far as "show don't tell" goes, a lot of scifi fi, fantasy, and horror works really well by giving vague descriptions which allow the reader to fill in the gaps in their own way.
#2: I read an article by the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once, where he said that he wrote a story set in a small town, and he was criticized because he had lived in whole life in New York City and had never lived in a small town. But, he said, he failed to heed this advice, because he went on to write many stories set on other planets, and he had never been to another planet.
I think the worst advice I've ever gotten is "just start writing". I'd immediately lost the plot and tone to the point where it'd be easier to just start over. Outlining is definitely key for my success
I am the exact opposite - I lose the drive and passion for the story if I outline too much. I figure out my characters, my world and then just throw a bit a chaos/conflict and see how they react. I mean, I know where it will eventually lead, but I have created half of my characters simply because they needed to be there as opposed to planning out who they are (after they pop into existence, I flesh them out in my head of course). That is the great thing about this (and really any form of) art - There are an infinite number of angles to come at it. I have become better about outlining, but I honestly try to avoid it as much as possible!
I 'm a pantser that researches as I go. Often the research opens the storyline to different avenues entirely. I like to see where things go naturally. You can always fix it in the next draft anyway.
I took this advise to be an encourager for those who talk about wanting to write. It could be write an outline. Write a short story. Do a writing exercise. Something that flexes those writing muscles. Personally, I find sitting at the keyboard and writing whatever comes to mind is often enough to break the dam. The first few lines or pages even might be garbage but it gets the creative juices flowing.
It depends on the type of person you are, I think planning is better than making it up as you go but both planning and not planning have drawbacks. For example, if you don't plan, you will likely have a harder time continuing to write your story compared to writers that do. And for the other side, if you do plan, you could end up restricting your writing and become too committed to the plan that it may come as a detriment to the story. You could become overly focused on the plot and not expand on the other elements as well.
@TheStinkyPoopooHeadz They definitely add depth and impact to a story, but I think they've become overvalued in recent years and a lot of writers have been trying to force a message rather than tell a story
@TheStinkyPoopooHeadz You bring up a good point--it's all about what the reader wants most out of a story. I'm not big on theme; neither are you. So for us, a theme-heavy story isn't going to engross us as much as a story that's geared toward other story elements like plot, character, etc.
That one you gave in another video about how all your verbs have to be striking and dynamic so don’t say “walked”, etc. Sometimes a character can just walk across the room. Sometimes the mundane can be even more poignant. Not everything has to be as melodramatic as a late 80s Marvel comic.
Worst writing advice I ever got for me was "You need to have a network of Beta readers so you can have many people giving you feedback on every step of your writing process." I ended up finding one Beta reader and having someone read every chapter as I draft it felt stifling and made me second guess myself. I couldn't imagine finding a half dozen more like was suggested to me and going through all that. Yes, a Beta/Edit/etc can be amazing but this advice was just too much. Much happier finishing a work now and then getting other people to read it :)
Show Don't Tell is always a frustrating one because sometimes you can really only tell someone what's going on. Trying to explain it visually winds up being so long-winded in certain cases or winds up being vague enough that people miss what's happening.
Thanks Brandon. One of the best videos I've seen on TH-cam! I just liked and subscribed. And I'm ordering both of your books. I'm in my seventies and, for reasons too numerous to list here, I am getting ready to launch my writing career. Was on the fence about whether I should send out some short stories first. Fortunately you solved that. Instinctively, I feel I need to develop a solid, interesting lead character first. To paraphrase a bit of King advice, I'm going to let strong characters loose, as they try to solve their problems and then hang on for the ride. Hopefully typing fast enough to keep up with them! Fortunately I'm vegan and in very good health. Probably got about 20 lucid, productive years left. But I'm not immortal. Got to get to it. Thanks again for your input and I wish you the all the best with your career.
The best piece of writing advice I got was actually from my mum. I told her I often got annoyed when I didn't write fast enough to finish a story but she said 'it will all worked itself out as you go on, don't rush it' This actually indeed did work itself out as elements I used in another story when pausing on one actually helped to work into parts of that story I was struggling with. The main advice I myself can give is don't worry about not reading classics. Just read the books you yourself want to read. Don't force yourself to read a story you know you're not liking.
Realizing I could jump right into writing novel-length pieces is honestly what saved me from giving up writing. The first thing my brain does when I get attached enough to an idea to pursue it is it pretty much naturally develops complex layers of narrative that really only can be fully explored in something novel or series length. Obviously, I *am* saving the things that ended up series length for once I have a few novel-length pieces under my belt, but writing standalone novels happened to be my ideal course of action for honing my craft. I can go as deep into the worlds as I want and I don’t have to stay relegated to representing only a moment or snippet of time in this world I want to spend so much more time in.
I don't listen to the write what you know rule. Whenever I research on something (Example: US Marine for a character) I look at the actual website, watch real Marine videos, take in depth notes, look at actual documents, and more. So much that I feel like I actually became one (no offense intended.) I do this because I haven't personally experience it. So to write an effective Marine I research more than necessary. Even if it doesn't matter or make into the novel I keep information to mold the character with the knowledge. Sometimes the extra information helps me to understand better. I'm a method writer.
Nice... I did something similar with my guitarist main character from Bad Parts. Since I've never played in a band before I read a bunch of rock & roll memoirs and did some research on musician sites for what kind of gear they use.
@@Lilliathi "Writing what you know" mostly refers to when someone actually lives or have expert knowledge on the subject they write. The bad advice I was thinking about when I wrote my comment is when a writer refuses or becomes too scared to step out of their comfort zone to write something that they know next to nothing about.
@@berry186 Well that's a bad interpretation. I'll happily agree that people who interpret it that way are wrong and honestly silly, but writing about something you don't know anything about is also a bad idea. You'll just make something inaccurate that'll piss people who know about the subject off, and misinform those who don't.
Number 8 is a harder one. When people say a protagonist needs to be “likable”, I think they are saying they have to be someone you care what happens to them. There are plenty of movies and books I never finished because I just didn’t care if they solved the conflict. But I have watched stories where the main character isn’t a “good” person, and you still keep watching.
I guess it depends on what you want to do with the protagonist and what their role is for the story. If your goal for the protagonist is for them to be the hero of the story, its fine to have them suck very much initially, but if they don't change or grow through-out the story where it feels like they are actually worthy of reaching their goals, it becomes very hard to care about them or the story. Whats even worse is if the author bends the world around the character in some type of "I'm perfect the way I am, its the rest of the world that needs to change for me" while in-directly writing the "hero" of the story as a complete prick while every other character in the story just unnaturally ignores it, Ive learned to catch onto this and usually stop reading works like this immediately.
The worst piece of writing advice l got was that l needed a writing workshop to encourage me. I spent years meeting and socializing weekly with a group whom l came to realize were all convincing each other how great they were.
Well as a comic author. I have to draw everything I write in to my script. That'll teach you to be economical with what you show and what you tell. And wasting time means lots of drawings of nothing. Which is not only boring, but also making the entire project more difficult. So I always blow it up and then trim it as much as I can, untill nothing more can be trimmed. You don't need to explain characters childhood in order to flash out his motivations. You don't have to expose the reader to why the world is the way it is. You just draw the weird stuff in the background and all over letting reader explore and discover the outlines of what happened / is happening. So for me best method is to try to storyboard your story xD.
I love prologues, the current WIP I'm working on right now is two pages but I think it's pretty cool because it gives an insight in who the protagonist is before reading chapter 1 where he does something rather questionable
I don't think Show Don't Tell is what you say it is at all. It's more about illustrating an event rather than expositing about it. So say -- I could show a character being friends with another character by having a scene where they bond over something...or I could just have the character say "you're my best friend." I think creating scenes to demonstrate relationships is what it's about.
I knew you were gonna mention "show, don't tell." Haha. I'll agree as far as descriptions like you mentioned. As far as plot development, telling will always just be boring, lazy info dumping.
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty I like to think the most annoying bits of show don't tell are expositional, unnatural dialogue lol. And when there's a lack of nuance and subtlety.
Nothing I hate more than a brother reminding his brother they are in fact brothers or being told that car accident 4 years ago was bad. I do agree I don't need to know how the man dresses down to the thread count of the suit.
Hello Brandon, Really greatful to have found this channel, been watching lots of your videos for the past few months. I have wanted to be a writer for around a decade now, but I have always limited myself and really struggle to get myself out there. Between doing collage, I have been trying to do a lot of creative writing no matter what it is, just going for it and trying to figure it out as I go. I feel more like I am embracing failure now which I think is better in the long run. Most of these that you mentioned, I have struggled with in the past.
I’m so glad to hear some of these points, no one should over limit themselves with something creative like writing! I spent months world building but since I found this channel (just a few days ago) I’ve gone from having a couple of unfinished first draft chapters to nearly 6,000 words and 4 complete second draft chapters. Thank you so much and I can’t wait to read Entry Wounds it sounds like such a brilliant concept, I love a good psychological thriller :)
Thrilled to hear the channel's helping! And thanks so much for checking out Entry Wounds! Hope you enjoy it, and please consider leaving a brief Amazon review when you finish
I definitely fell into the trap of planning too much. I got told all my life in school about the importance of an outline. So I started outlining my book. The first outline was a broad overview of the scenes and main characters. Then I started making outlines of each character. Suddenly I was outlining each chapter and the page count. It got to the point where I had an almost paragraph by paragraph outline. Weeks and months wasted that I could have been writing the story. In the end, now that I’m writing it, the story is developing itself. Half of what was planned is out the window because one small sentence changes core elements that I had never considered.
1:45 I took “write what you know” as “if you don’t know something, do research on it before writing it into your story so you know what you’re doing.” I guess that was just my different way of thinking lol
It's really refreshing to hear all this. You're vocalising a lot of half-thoughts that have been floating in the back of my mind for years. I think this actually gives you a lot of credibility as a writing coach too, because you have logic behind your "controversial" points.
As a reader, the word "prologue" is an immediate red flag. It signals to me these are pages the writer didn't have the heart to cut. If it truly is essential to the book, just call it chapter 1 so it doesn't allow readers to say "Yeah, I think I'll ignore that."
Plot structure focused writing advice. I see it all over the place. You can always tell an author who writes for the plot structure because the story will be anemic, contrived, and uninspired stories with a textbook plot structure. This way of writing is backwards. Good structure comes from a good story with good writing - but the reverse isn’t true. The writers who focus on inspiration (artistic, dream, emotional, etc…) and writing strong characters who push the story, and writing about interesting events, ironically have superior structure to those who focus on plotting. To give example categories: crappy horror and crappy romantic stories. The sort where characters feel like they’re making dumb illogical decisions that feel wrong for the character (or any kind of a real person) but fit the plot. Even their motivations and personality will shift to serve the plot rather than the rational path of the character. Stephen King vs RL Stine is the perfect example of this. With King, you have characters that feel real, interesting, and timeless stories. With Stine, you have well plotted bad stories… RL Stine is like the book equivalent of those terrible 187 Candace Cameron Christmas specials… and somehow this crap still sells. And ironically, the organic pathing of Stephen King books has more interesting (superior) structure to Stine’s books. On the other hand, if you’re looking to pump out soulless factory crafted work, Candace Cameron Christmas Specials and RL Stine horror seems like a winning strategy for sales; but, these works will never be classics
Show don't tell means, that you shouldn't explain what can just be shown/seen. For example, don't let a character explain who a person x is and h ow this person is always angry and yells around and is getting pissed at all kind of things, but when this person X shows up, let them explode over something, be angry about it, that's enough for the reader/audience to get it and feels way more natural. You can of course let character A warn character B to be careful around person x, if this is something character A fears character B would mess up for example.
My #1 advice for people is: Don't limit yourself to one thing Like people think the only way to get better is to finish everything, and that's so untrue. You should do 100 things, let your creativity flow like its meant to, eventually you'll stumble across something you know you want to finish, before that never feel guilt for giving up on something
I'm so grateful for this video. I was instinctively doing all these things before ever learning "the rules." I once wrote a great murder mystery, with really graphic, visceral murders and an intriguing plot line. Obviously, I WASN'T "writing what I knew," but did a lot of research. In fact, the research taught me things that helped advance and adapt the storyline based on what I'd learned along the way.
For the prologues thing, one of my writing teachers said "people tend not to read them". And it sounded so wrong. I ALWAYS read the prologues and epilogues. I made a poll on tumblr, and 100% of the votes said they read both every time, so I'm not sure what he was on about.
I finished 2 full length stories before I attempted to write a short story. And I save everything I start because sometimes I need a break to write something else before I can finish the original story, or I find it fits into a future idea.
The piece of writing advice I can't work with is "Write a really rough draft, it doesn't matter how bad it is, just get the words down on the page". That works for many people, I'm sure, but I don't think it's as universal as they imagine. My motivation and morale won't hold up if I'm not writing something that I think is at least pretty good... I like to work and rework as I go along so that I know I'm doing something worthwhile, otherwise I get too depressed! #6 - Yes! Definitely - I've written 8 novels and have an agent, and I still can't write short stories. I'm very envious of my friends who can.
The problem with taking "Show, don't tell" as bad writing advice is that doing so doesn't apply to all mediums. This video seems to be focused mostly on writing novels and those, along with plays, might be relevant to ignoring that advice. However if you are writing a movie it's a different story. Movies are inherently visual and talking about something when you can show it can often make it duller. Exposition can often fall into the "tell" category if it's used as an excuse not to show something.
"show, don't tell" is a very relevant piece of advice but just like everything it must not be taken to an extreme. It's a question of balance. It's perfectly ok to write "they were good friends for years" than trying to show it in a long tedious dialogue whatsoever. It saves the readers time and interest for more important things...
It's all about the believability and quality of the writing. If it is relevant to the character or the plot, then it is certainly a good idea to make them say something akin to "Man, it has been a long time since the golden days, hasn't it?"
@@lpfan4491 Exactly. Or something like "she had not seen him wearing a shirt and tie for ages". It says they had known each other "for ages" and raises the question of the shirt and tie. But I guess this is somewhat showing rather than telling, not sure 🤔 Nonetheless sometimes it is very convenient to describe things as they are : the room was small and had many pictures of her on the wall. In one corner was a small wooden table etc, etc... As long as it is relevant for the story and doesn't go on for too long.
Yeah I get where he’s coming from on the show don’t tell bit but I still think it’s an invaluable piece of advice that you just need discretion on when to employ. A critical component of writing is planting questions in your reader’s mind, or writing things in such a way that they can maker their own inferences. You really just have to know when it makes sense to use it and that is very situational. Sometimes telling is incredibly more efficient and practical, absolutely.
I really appreciate it Brandon. I needed to hear this, I’m currently writing and illustrating my own comics but I feel confident. Like you mentioned, I’m going to do what works for me!
Great! Neither Hailey new about airports, neither Crichton about dinosaurs. Yet they wrote those great books. And obviously, Lou in Nightcrawler in not likeable at all, yet it’s a great movie.
Character over Plot. Many years ago, I took a screenwriting class. The professor on day 1 said his class was focused on character development and plot was secondary. When I create a story, I think of characters and plot together and let my thought process develop them together. I told him this, and he said that I should write action movies then, because if I'm going to focus on plot, then action movies are where I should be. I walked out of a his class when the his said this. The one piece of good advice I was told, for every rule of what not to do in writing is a story that does it, and does it amazingly well.
For me (a gentleman of a certain age), the emphasis on Character at the expense of Story badly unbalances much modern television. For one thing, it requires that the characters be utterly riveting, because the story isn't, and the whole thing fails if they are not. I recently watched some episodes of the relatively recent TV series 'Bones' (which now airs on about three of the broadcast nostalgia TV channels), and was amazed at how much time was spent on the ongoing character melodramas with unconvincing characters, while the actual crime investigation was almost a distraction of the characters from the melodrama (rather like a show like 'Saved By The Bell' or 'Dawson's Creek' where the kids go to school to set up their social interactions, but never learn anything in a classroom; classes are a distraction from the real business of socializing). In a Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode, Spock and Uhura are on an urgent mission to solve a problem and they just stop, for no evident reason, in the middle of their research to have a Character Moment. This is what passes for 'good writing' nowadays. Don't even get me started about Amazon's "Rings of Power" where the story lines are filled with absurdities at every turn, but the characters are, for the most part, even worse. Whenever I hear a show advertised as "character-driven", I run, not walk, to my bookshelves.
@@majkus They did it again on Strange New Worlds with Spock and Nurse Chapel. He left a very tense military scene to go have a moment with the nurse. I thought, "That was clunky."
I remember looking for tips for writing villains (they're my favorite part of writing tbh). There was a lot of great tips such as giving them a relation to the themes of the story, making them a complete force of chaos, giving them moments that show where they specialize (are they manipulative, do they use brute force, ect.), give them something distinct like a motif or personality trait that stands out, and all kinds of other aspects which is mostly various ways of saying to make sure your villains are diverse and interesting. However, there was one video on villain writing tips that was literally just nothing but tips for traumatic backstories. The intro to the video literally stated that it was the only thing that mattered. Main Tip: If you are making a villain, don't use a backstory as a crutch. Yes, they can help flesh out a character (heck, one of my villains was pretty boring until I gave her a backstory and set up her personality and motives around it), but they should NEVER be the ONLY thing going for them.
Love the good stuff in Stephen King's On Writing, but there's so much garbage advice in there as well to be honest. I was wondering if you could do a video on similes. How to come up with clever and original ones, and avoiding clichés etc.
My thoughts exactly on SK's On Writing. Some of the best and worst advice around. I'll brainstorm a Similes video and try to get in out in the coming weeks. Anything else specific you want in that video?
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Would be nice to know when it's best to use similes, and how to make writing more evocative through their use. If you can think of any memorable examples from other books to include that would be cool as well.
My dad hates Stephen King. Growing up, my siblings and I weren’t allowed to mention him in the house. We secretly watched his book based movies, read his books, etc.
I wrote a novel called Oro and Azra, and took...10 years. Lol...I wrote it by chapters, 1400 words per, but some would be shorter, depending on the scene. Had a prologue, and then right into the world. Third act was most difficult. You want to tie up loose ends, but instead focus on main plot, trust in the story. It took me ten years, because I tried rewriting it, over and over, but the first draft was always most succinct. I ended up keeping the ...originality. I find that when u try too much editing, it sucks the soul out of it
Worst piece of advice that really hurt my writing back in the day was “just write.” It’s good for experienced writers who understand the craft, but not so much for the newbie.
The worst writing advice I ever got, which were more like demands, was from a feminist. She told me that my protagonist had to be a real boss lady and put men in their place (by being abusive and ungrateful) in order to be taken seriously. I told her to go pound sand and she has hated me ever since.
I’ve heard “start small, and then think bigger as you go along” but it doesn’t work for me. I’ve got everything already decided before I start in like 30 minutes(the world, the plot points, characters, ect), and then I’ll write and change things as I go. That piece of writing advice actually put me off of writing for a long time.
my favourite part about "show don't tell" is when the same person follows it up with "chekov's gun" forgetting for a moment that chekov dedicated an entire page to describing his well muscled and handsome self insert in his novel, it's the dissonance of "show everything" but also "if you show something, it should be important" that really gets me.
I guess the problem with most writing advices is the overthinking of an intuitive craft and gift. Nowadays people tend to go to extremes and think through everything until it turns into a "theres only ONE WAY to do it right" thing. And people tend to proselytize about things. I always had a feeling for how good storytelling works. You learn a lot when you read a lot and watch a lot of movies. It trained my compass on pace, structure and tropes. Stephen King himself said that he grew up reading a lot and watching tv a lot. I guess thats why his storytelling is how it is. And many authors know all of these "rules" very well and write great storys when they break the rules.
Discovered your videos and channel only a few days ago, and I'm hooked. This video is the perfect example of why: your insightful and *pragmatic* approach is fresh and powerful. (And it saddens me to think that some aspiring - and younger? - writers believe they need an MFA to write a novel!) Thanks for your great advice and encouragement!
I disagree with Show vs Tell being bad advice. If I draw a picture and have to tell someone what it is they're looking at, my drawing skill is bad or too abstract for an everyday person to enjoy. Strongly agree with "finishing everything you write" being horrible advice. Forcing yourself to write something you're not feeling at the moment is the kiss of death for your story. The only appropriate time to work on something you're not creatively firing on all cylinders with is when you're editing; which always sucks ass to do regardless. If you're losing interest in writing something, put it on the back burner and work on something else
I believe a lot of these tips started out good and got misinterpreted. In particular, “write what you know.” Even if you’re writing high fantasy or sci-fi, it can feel more real if you sprinkle in things you know where it fits.
Speaking more directly, one thing I’ve always hated is suggestions from people that don’t take me seriously. I have yet to have actually finished writing anything, granted, but I have plenty of ideas that I’m excited for and a few that I’m working on right now, but I absolutely hate it when the conversation moves to my stories and I give just a simple synopsis to gauge the story to the person, and the person gives wacky, outlandish, or even absurd suggestions. One example is when I tell someone what one of my stories is about and they tell me to put, “It was all a dream!” on my final page, or if it’s someone that I know more personally and they ask me to write about myself, or when someone that I don’t like is trying to mock me by giving a shitty title like “The Life of Zero” as if the title itself is a hilarious joke at my expense. Some people seem to genuinely like my ideas and are now interested in reading whatever I may finish, but every now and then there’s someone with suggestions worse than plagiarizing the dictionary.
I know I'm around a year late and I doubt anyone will see this, but the fact that "Show, don't tell" is categorized as a bad piece of advice really struck me. I had to take a small pause and then re-listen to what you said about it. For a little context, I've been writing for as long as I can remember, from evil cats to cakes who turn into children and beferiend mermaids. Cheerleaders with murderers, secret dimension in a mirror, 3 AM callings, you name it. I never really had anyone to share my work with except my father, because everything I wrote was in English and I live in a country where English isn't spoken very often. Around two-three years ago, when I was approximately ten, I found out about the Creepypasta Wiki. I was absolutely obsessed with Creepypastas at the time, mostly the characters, not the stories or the history, like right now. After finding out that on that wiki you needed to write horror stories, hence the name of the Wiki. CThe word Creepypasta came from the word copypasta, which is/were blocks of texts and images to send over to other people as spam, copy and pastes, but then the word "creepy" was added on since those copypastas were about how the image of SMILEDOG.exe would haunt you and force you to doing unhappy things with your life if you didn't repost his image, or how Slenderman would kill you if you didn't send a message to ten people. I started writing my absolute heart out. The reason wy I was so confident in posting my work there was because I already posted some of my work on Quotev, mostly Creepypasta fanfics, and one of them reached a thousand views and I've never been prouder of myself. To say the least, my determination was very quickly crumbled by the critique of the Creepypasta Wikia, who was *prettty damn harsh* to my stories. A large majority of them got deleted, and I think only three of them got complimented: a story about overprotective parents killing their child's friends to make pinatas, a child being haunted by their past mistakes in the form of being stuck in a video game which they had no control over, and, most important one, Widow's Closet. Widow's Closet held no real "do this or you'll die" meaning, it was mostly little me wondering about te secrets of my school. I made up this character "Claire" who got hit in the face during dodgeball and had to go the girl's dressing room to put her cold water bottle to her face. Similarly to *my* school's dressing room, there was a square hole at the top of one of the walls, almost touching the ceiling. I've always been curious about what it holds, since I was too short to reach it (again, I was barely 11), and I thought I'd be breaking some sort of school rule. So I decided to make up a whole story about a nest of widow spiders living in that little square hole, and when Claire opens the hole, she manages to time it to when it was only a few minutes past the spider giving birth to a hell ton of spiders, all of which immediately climbed on to Claire, started going in her hair, her mouth, her nose and under her clothes. I don't actually *think* as of right now that spiders cannibalize humans, but a few minutes after being ambushed by the spiders Claire was nothing more than a corpse with chewed off flesh. A efw moments later, the janitor of the story walks it, picks up the widow spider and starts cooing to her like a pet, or a child, congratulating her on giving birth and talking about how responsible the spider was for finding food for herself and her family, after which the janitor hid the body in the second, human-sized closet. Wow, okay, that sounds like definitely something I wrote. Not sarcasm. Anyway, the critique's words exactly were: "It's not bad, honestly. *It could do with more showing, rather than telling, so I suggest doing some research on how to do this*. Honestly, though, it was a fun ride and I never knew where it was going to go. The complicit janitor at the end was a darkly funny twist that made it all the more enjoyable. Nice work!". I think it's obvious that I was extremely proud of my work, so I may have tied a bit too hard to make more stories that they'd like after that but to no avail. But the "It could do with more showing rather than telling" always stuck to me, because I *never* understood what it meant. I did a quick skim of research somewhere along my years and started subconsciously doing what was asked of me all this time ago-- I relied on detailed descriptions of scenery, character emotions, situations, and so forth. As of late, I've been listening to a hell ton of podcasts because I can't really spend my time doing anything else. Not writing, not drawing, reading, knitting, NOTHING. This is te fourth video that popped up from your channel on my randomly picked out videos, and I'm kind of glad that it did. Hearing you talk about how the advice of "Show, don't tell." isn't exactly the best when for years I've been leaning on it because some old woman on the internet witha little pixel badge on a Wikia said so was a surprise. I'll be honest, I don't know where I was leading with this comment, but I just wanted to voice my opinion and how grateful I am for this video!!
I think the short story advice is true. For new writers is great to learn short stories for multiple reasons. Just the success of finishing a story is a big deal, and getting into the habit of writing continuously. But I completely agree with you, that the structure of the two don't have much in common.
Good ideas. As a reader I find myself annoyed by writers who want to show and never just tell. I took a little writing class one time and the instructor gave us a sample of his writing that "told" and a re-write that"showed". His intention was to show us how much better the second one was, but I preferred the first.
My two cents: Every piece of writing advice is bad advice if it's not clearly defined and explained. Even then not every advice fits every author. The you have to outline thing has cost me years of my life cause I can't do it and stick to it to save my life. I can outline for others but not for me. I also can't be bothered to write 5k a day. I'm not a lady of leisure I have things to do. (I've finished 6 books and a bunch of shortstories without plotting) My tipps for beginners are: 1. Don't listen to others, find out what works for you. 2. Tell the story you want to read. 3. If you get writes block you need to listen to yourself. Either body is telling you you're dooing to much or your unconscious brain tells you there is something wrong with your story. 4. Learn from your mistakes, we all make them all the time. Good thing with a manuscript you can correct them. 5. No your unique Idee is not unique. But that's not a bad thing.
no one ever addresses 'know your audience' this is the most important part. trouble is I can't find out who my audience is because people in the business won't share that type of info. I like si-fi and just aim my books at myself. what would I like to read.
My dad (who is not a writer) gave me a lot of discouraging advice, he told me not to try and write a novel and just do short stories first, he told me I'm not a real writer until I get something published, and he told me I should just write the first story I wrote when I was seven because that's the best thing I've ever written. Thanks to the internet, I have access to advice from other writers, which is actually helpful, or at least not as harmful as that.
Thank you so much. I wanted to write about a character who gets PTSD in the end, but I was worried it would come off as disrespectful because I don’t know much about PTSD. But now I feel more encouraged about doing it. Thank you. Also one of my favorite anime’s is death note, and the main character in that one is a manipulative serial killer who is bare minimum redeemable because he wants to rid the world of evil.
Whatever you do don't stop and fix something. Mark it and keep going. Well every subsequent chapter/scene will have to change. I kept going. I wrote the novel in 6 weeks, but I had to do a complete rewrite. I should have stopped at chapter/scene 6 and fixed what did not work. NEVER GOING TO DO THAT AGAIN! Love this channel.
5:53 First time Novel writer in, 220 pages in. I have found that it isn't writing short stories that improves your craft. I have written a few, but it has been years. What I found to be helpful was reading or hearing narrations. It allowed me to learn via a decade of osmosis. Not exactly how to write and pace, but it gave me some good feels and pointers
Writing and Non-writing advice for writers - 1. Listen to no advice - 2. Read a lot - until you find out what you like and don't like - 3. transcribe (copy) in whole or in part without adding or taking anything away from the books you like (we're talking about novels here) - you'll incorporate the stuff of your favorite authors - snoop around in the machine - find out what a boring paragraph or a failed chapter is and a sentence that works and a useful paragraph - if you have a real personality and ideas of your own, You risk nothing - you may discover that you have joined some kind of family or clan and that, like your new friends, you have the same style - what in painting is called being part of a school - or you may be unable to free yourself from the grip of a master who has taught you everything
The idea that I have to finish whatever I write has definitely hurt my ability for writing short stories, where the ending always feels rushed because I hit some snag or writers block and instead of coming back to the story when my think tank was working again I instead tear through the story so that I could close that story and say I finished something. I'd much rather take my time and have everything I wrote feel like a magnum opus to me than rushing on them when I get stuck and feeling like I'm not good enough because of how the final product came out.
3:32...I literally thought I was the only one on the planet that thought that the whole "Show don't Tell" thing was a shit piece of advice. There are numerous things throughout a novel ora movie that HAVE to be told,since it would make no sense to show it.
Number 7 can be generalized for learning the theory in any kind of artistic endeavour. Whilst there are cases where people could do great art with no knowledge of the theory behind it, true, knowing the theory helps understand *why* some choices are preferred over others. Not only this, but it can also show you how to properly deconstruct and/or go against a rule; theory tells you why that rule exists and if you actually understand the why, you can much more easily "subvert tropes" than just doing it blind. This also ties with 10. Knowing the theory can reveal much more easily the options to you (or allow you to create new options)
I pretty much agree with all of these except "show don't tell". I understand that there needs to be a balance and sometimes you must explain what a character is doing as opposed to a direct action sequence, but we feel the characters more if can visualize and feel them doing the action instead of just saying: Jonny did this, and then Jonny did that. If I say: The old dusty frame felt surprisingly cold in Johnny's hand. It was the last thing he had expected to notice following the fire. Tears began welling under his eyelids, splattering on the broken glass as they fell. This dirty faded image of his mother was all that he had left to remember her by. That reads a bit better than: Jonny held the dirty broken picture in his hand. He couldn't help it. The fire destroyed almost everything. He began to cry. Some of his tears fell onto the broken glass. This dirty old picture was all he had left to remember his late mother by.
Honestly, the "you must write from beginning to end," as well as, "write what you know," and, "do all of your research first," are three huge issues I've had to overcome. I do much better writing the scenes I know will occur and then going back and filling in. I'm writing about places I've never been and I'm picking up my research as I go. The other thing is that I should aim for X number of words. I find it best to write my first draft in as many or as few words as possible and then trim or expand as necessary.
These points are very helpful. #3 in particular since I'm planning to start my own graphic novel and I've been doing a shit ton of research for over a year now. For #4 what you described seems to be the reverse of Show don't tell, since the description you gave sounds more like "showing" but nevertheless I think I see your point, that descriptions shouldn't be too short or too long. #8 is also quite helpful since my idea has a main character who may not be too likable. As for a bad writing tip that was detrimental to me, I'd say it's the idea that self-inserts never work
"Finish everything you write" is such bad advice, not just because sometimes you lack passion, but because sometimes you realize in the middle of a story that what you have been writing, the plot, the scenes, the characters, just DON'T WORK. Sometimes you realize you cannot solve a problem you place in your story in the first place and trying to solve it at that moment might lead you to constantly smashing against a brick wall. In those cases is better to leave the story for later. Maybe a week, a month, or even a year from now you'll suddenly come up with a way to restructure it and finally finish it.
I enjoy the aspect of research. I'm one of those 'in-between' writers - neither a pure pantser, nor a pure planner. If, during the course of writing I have an idea regarding technology, then I'll start exploring and looking into the possible tech, and in the process, I get to learn something new, or correct my thinking which may have been off point. I could not, however, do all the planning and research before I started to write. I'm just not that kind of animal. Liked, subbed and dinged that bell. Appreciate your good work here. Thank you.
Good tips! While I don’t think it’s necessarily bad advice, I’ve heard “save the good stuff for later” doesn’t always work. I feel like connecting with a character needs to happen relatively quickly, and we need information to achieve that.
#3: that's what happened to me when I wanted to write historical fiction about the Napoleonic period. I read a ton of books about Napoleon and with every idea that I came up with, I thought: but it didn't really happen like that. So research got in the way of the imagination. And after a while you are reading the same things.
A better term than "likability" is "appeal". That's one of the twelve principles of animation, but it really applies to any creative medium that has characters.
I think something we all writers must understand is that... there's no rules. Anything can work IN A CERTAIN CONTEXT, WITH A CERTAIN GOAL. The best general advice can be awful in your particular history, and the worst advice can work and even turn your history into a masterpiece. But it all depends on the story you're telling, the way you're telling it, what you want to achieve with that story. A plot hole can be turned into a resource, if you are clear how to do it and what you want to make with it. An intelligent resource can turn into something problematic if you don't know what to do with it, when to aply it, how to aply it. There's people who know all those things before even sitting in front of the white page. I, personally, have to write, and rewrite, and rewrite again to finally get something i like. Find your way. And do not fear to experiment, and to fail. That's also the joy of writing. And many times something that didn't work once can be the key piece to complete another project
![ทางเดินชีวิต - ธีเดช ทองอภิชาติ x อ.ไข่ มาลีฮวนน่า [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1f3wcG16dd4/mqdefault.jpg)
I think "show don't tell" works a lot better as a rule in visual media. For example, its better to show a villain being threatening than to have characters sit around talking about how threatening he is, only for him to show up when it's time for him to be defeated.
Nah it can work well in both mediums if you want to get across that a castle has been at the center of a lot of conflicts its much easier to simply say "Looking up mr guy noticed the scars of cannons upon the outer walls and as he entered the courtyard saw that the banners hanging on the walls were bright and new despite the seemingly ancient furniture besides it" rather then some clumsily forced in exposition
@@Otto_Von_Beansmarck "Despite the seemingly ancient furniture beside it" is exposition.
It's also interesting that you define exposition with the modifier "clumsy," as if exposition is itself clumsy by nature, when in reality, most of the books you've likely ever read have been filled to the brim and overflowing with exposition.
Harry Potter. Hunger Games. Tom Clancy novels. Louis L'Amour whose economy of words is brilliant, still loads up his story with exposition.
What you're suggesting would remove the primary advantage that novels have over visual mediums, and also fly in the face of pretty much every good novel ever written.
Agreed.
In writing, its harder to show than tell. It would throw off pacing by randomly jumping to the villain.
Works in dual POV, but single POVS it never does.
@@Selrisitai I meant clumsily *forced* exposition trying to convey that the way the exposition is introduced is clumsy rather then exposition as a whole being clumsy and I think we have different definitions of exposition I would typically use it to refer to a character simply explaining what something is (I do think it can be used very well especially when it tells us something about the character giving the exposition) rather then the book using visuals and actions to explain it
also Louis L'amour is awesome
@@fireblade295 well you can show the villain doing some heinous acts right in front of the hero with no jumps required
It seems that the problem is us, not the advice. We make everything extreme and we don’t understand the reasons behind the advice.
“Write what you know” becomes “write ONLY what you know.”
“Show, don’t tell” becomes “show all the time, don’t tell at all.”
“Prologues are bad” becomes “all prologues are bad.”
“Make your characters likable” becomes “you must make your characters likable.”
That's a good way of looking at it. Misinterpretation can make advice worse than it actually is
This isn't the first time I've heard someone object to the advice "write what you know." And every time I hear that objection, I think, But if you're doing research to prepare yourself to write about something you don't already know about, then you'll still be writing what you know in the end.
And you better do enough research that you *do* know about what you're writing about. You don't want to make an ass of yourself.
And not doing research is particularly irresponsible if you're writing about a particular group of people who exist in real life (obviously doesn't apply if you're writing fantasy). Especially if it's a group of people that is overly stereotyped and marginalized.
I'd say, "Write what you know, or make sure you know what you write before you write it."
Ahhh, I finally understand. All writing advice is bad and I should ignore it or do the exact opposite, every time. Thank you!
>_>
_>
So NO ONE sees the irony with this logic.
WRITER says "Write what you know" and reader interprets that as "write ONLY what you know." And the fault is... the READER.
So if I pitch a story about a Dragon Doctor, and you think it's about a Dragon who is a Doctor, not a Doctor for Dragons... who is at fault, or rather as the writer who should I assume is at fault? I would say if readers don't understand my writing, then the fault is with me, not everyone else.
I am not saying we as readers never misinterpret things, but if so many people do it, then at least some blame is on the writer. (come on everyone hate on me for saying that writing advice can be poorly worded).
If "write what you know" was invariably valid, then a lot of Sci-fi and, arguably, the entire genre of Fantasy, wouldn't even exist.
The absolute worst piece of advice was from my parents, who were horrified that I was only trying to write a page a day. They insisted that I *needed* to be churning out at least 3-5 pages a day, every day... despite neither of them ever trying to do any writing in their lives, outside of schoolwork.
Graham Greene would write 500 words a day, five days a week.
I know the feeling. Took me nearly 4 years to complete my master's degree thesis and my mom would always put excessive pressure on me... But I finished it this month (FINALLY !!!!!). Sure, I mean, it's also 315 pages, which is closer to a doctorate, research-wise and content-wise, but I always wrote at least a paragraph everyday (unless I was sick). Kept me mentally healthy throughout my productivity.
wow, your parents showed an interest in your writing?
@@darthvaderdylan Well, they kind of assumed that I'd make it big first time round
A page a day does sound dangerously slow, at least to me. When I write, I tend to finish the first draft in 1 - 3 months (some material is easier than others). Normally, I'd do 10,000 words on a great day and some days I just would dry up and not write a thing. I think the best technique and the next one I intend to use is just aim for 1,000 a day and worry it to bits whilst writing it. It'll make editing a lot easier and 70 days to write a novel working flat out doesn't sound to intimidating. 140 days? I could see life getting in the way or just too much self doubt creeping in as to whether or not there's any point pressing on.
Ultimately, it's what's best for you (and try different techniques).
As a side note, I'm giving my lockdown novel away for free on TH-cam: #ZenAndTheArtOfSavingLifeOnEarth. The first draft took 90 days where some days I plodded on, others I froze. I just didn't know what I could get away with saying.
I once attended a (taped) lecture series by a writer I admired. She laid down many rules for writing (One was "No dream sequences!") I noted these down on sheets of paper and envelopes and whatever I had. When the series was over, I set these papers up all around my computer and... I didn't write a word for two years. I finally threw them all in the trash, and then I could write. Advice can be good in the planning stage, and in the editing stage, but when you're seat in chair and fingers on keyboard, let advice go right straight to hell. When you're in that position, it's all you.
"No dream sequences" oh, well I guess Alice in Wonderland should have been thrown out, nevermind that it's a beloved childhood classic, it has a dream in it!
No dream sequences? How about acid trips?
"No dream sequences," huh? Dream sequences are vital to some stories.
I love a good dream sequence.
@@krystencabbage1032 Alice in Wonderland is the only acceptable use of the "It was all a dream" ending.
Rather than saying, for example, that “show don’t tell” is bad writing advice, I find it better to highlight the importance of balance. Yes, describing every little detail of what a character looks like can really drag on the story for a lot of genres but just telling us “she was angry” may not be as immersive as describing what that looks/feels like. We don’t want to “show” everything as it will likely slow the story down and make things confusing but we don’t want to “tell” everything as this will likely make for a more bland and less immersive story.
Absolutely. Balance is critical.
100%
'Show, don't tell' (note the punctuation) is good teaching advice. In writing it means, 'don't tell the reader what to feel, describe something that makes them feel it'. Detailed descriptions of characters make me feel like I'm reading a fashion magazine.
You should so what you used to do at elementary. Show and tell
"Show don't tell" IS bad writing advice. "Show or tell as appropriate for the scene and pacing" is good writing advice. It's more about flow than balance.
"Write what you know" is an often misunderstood bit of advice. Pretentious college professors and amateur writers seem to think that it means writing pedestrian autobiographical fiction, but what it really means is that you should write something you're passionate about and know well. For example, if you love horror, write horror. If you know the structure of a romance inside and out, write one. Research, or the lack of it, is completely incidental in terms to what that phrase means.
Research expands what you know, though.
And how did you know that what you "know"? By trying it out.
Why do you like thriller?
Because you tried it out.
Why do you like phabtasy?
Because you stumbled upon something new and... tried it out.
A friend of mine published multiple Crime stories and is decently succesfull. One day she decided "I want to write a phantasy"
Guess what? She started to figure it out. Like everybody does at some point.
In my country we only have soccer as a popular sport. In 2015 I read an article about Steph Curry. I got fascinated and started digging deeper and deeper. So I went from a Steph Curry Highlight reel Stan to a guy who actually knows rules of basketball, watches it on a regular basis and plays it in my free time. I decided that it interests me enough to do research about it, when I was like 27 and didnt even know what a goaltend was or that it exists.
I agree with this. I think we all have our unique perspectives/expertise whether from our professions, personal exposure or specialized hobbies/interests, and being able to leverage that in our writing lends us some degree of authenticity that another writer won't be able to do.
@@InfernosReaper Oh certainly. I did not mean to suggest that research has no place in the writing process, just that it is its own separate part of the process.
@@thejawgz6719 Fair. I was mainly pointing out that once one studies something, it does become what they know.
Then again, thinking about it, if someone's just making up a setting or whatever, then they are automatically writing what they know, because they're creating it...
Unless they're carry on a story well past their ability to remember things in it and refuse to make notes, like Araki or Toriyama.
My understanding of "show don't tell" has more to do with characterization. You don't want to have other characters talking expositively about what a badass/genuis/creep a character is, you want to have action in the story that shows the character being a baddas/genius/creep.
Great video, thanks.
But then you run into a problem, and I'll demonstrate it by asking a simple question:
Should other characters _not_ talk about your character's qualities?
I think the obvious answer is that of course they should.
So the issue would only be if you have the other characters talk about how amazing he is, but then never demonstrate it or make it believable in any way.
@@Selrisitai
Stop reading my mind.
Yes, that's it, exactly. And expressed better than I did.
Mark Twain wrote the Prince and the Pauper and a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, so what he meant by "write what you know" certainly didn't mean you had to only write about what you experienced yourself. Maybe he meant do write what you know (as well as what you can imagine) because your firsthand experience would be valuable for others to read.
I feel like a lot of todays TV writing suffers from the inclination in hollywood to have writers tell their story. While telling ones story sounds great, we may be too close to our own story to convey it honestly. A failing which leads to stories about yet another Mary Sue enduring the melodramatic antagonism of the one dimensional others. A writer should be adept at understanding and conveying other peoples stories. And not just the protagonist, but also the elements of influence which constitute their environment. Including the other characters with their own conflicting, yet valid perspectives.
Spot on. Didn't even consider the risk of "Write what you know" leading to becoming overprotective of your protagonist
All movies are written by writers. It sounds dumb but the realization made me understand that not even movies about movies themselves know what they're talking about. The only profession that is consistently researched in movie scripts are the script writers themselves... Notice they're almost always shown sympathetically. Of course most writers had other jobs at some point in their lives but that experience is limited. What I mean is that _if people only wrote what they knew every movie character would be moonlighting as a screenwriter._
Exactly like when a feminist writes a movie about female empowerment they represent all straight white men as being irredeemable monsters
Ik this might be controversial but I feel like Spielberg kind of fell into this trap with The Fabelmans. Spielberg is a brilliant director but considering the amount of movies he makes they get muddled sometimes, and idk i think he really indulged in his own past where it got super messy and very weird, almost hysterical. I think he was dealing with some unprocessed trauma I guess
@@GuineaPigEveryday Idk I haven't seen the Fabelman's but the concept sounds interesting and I don't know entertaining to learn more about a fictionalized Spielberg esq person. However yes I understand that may be Self indulgent.
I tried 20 years ago to write a novel. I quit. I was really bad in telling stories. I was too young, unexperienced and not really a natural talent. However, those first pathetic five pages haunted me all this time long ever since I read aloud to my writing workshop's teacher. You should have seen his face. I felt so embarrassed that I quit that workshop too.
Two years ago, I started again about the same topic and currently about to finish it. It feels different now. Still a newbie. That hasn't changed but more experienced indeed. Your comments and advices help me a lot. I have to review some parts. I thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Best luck I wish you.
Well now I want to read the five pages lol
@@CAC701D
Yeah it couldn't really ve THAT bad can it?
"Make active characters" definitely confused me. I wasted years creating characters that ran around a lot in reaction to events that befell them. Basically, I wrote hyperactive reactors. I now believe that the advice should be to write decisive characters. Events should impose dilemmas on characters forcing them to choose an option. A story's plot should be driven by bad decisions, not bad luck. So "make active characters" is really about plot.
It's weird that we've all heard bite-sized advice that, for some reason, we take as a full-course meal. "Make active characters" is not useful. It may be useful within the context of a LESSON or LECTURE, but not by itself because it assumes that if you have a main character who is lazy, then you aren't allowed to write that story or the story will automatically fail, which is clearly foolish.
Or lean in the other way and write a story about a very indecisive character. Could be a great comedy! But yes, point taken. Generally passive characters are a snooze fest.
Advice #3 - "A lot of times what happens when it comes to research ... what new writers are doing is they're actually procrastinating. They're afraid to actually write the book" Damn so true!
I am not afraid, I just have a problem making time for writing. Which is my fault, completely.
Better to have your hoes in a row before starting to plant.
"Show don't tell" is actually a good advice... for audiovisual media. That seems to be the problem with that advice because it's not interpreted correctly. It encourages directors and visual media creators so that they can say more in the screen and show a lot in emotions and meaning in a well thought frame, instead of using exposition alone which usually can be boring. I like how you reinterpret that advice with that bit with "dresses like someone twice her age", because that actually follows the same idea of expressing something within a simple phrase rather that a lot of unnecesary clumped detail.
I personally would encourage the opposite: Tell, don't show. Exposition is a writer's primary tool, and if you don't believe me, pick up any book you like from your shelf and I can almost guarantee that it will have tons of exposition.
Even hyper fast-paced, entertaining stories like the Dresden Files are loaded with literally paragraphs upon paragraphs of exposition.
@@Selrisitai got to have a mix. show don't tell also means things like don't just describe the villain as an asshole. don't just have every reference just tell me he's evil and mean or even just that he commited atrocities years ago. make it come up. either when we meet him have him being rude with the language he uses. have him actively affecting the world around the POV characters even if he's not physically present like say have them encounter people affected by his villainy and demonstrate what it has done to them.
This is a misunderstanding of what 'show' and 'tell' mean in this context.
Show is basically setting a scene and letting that scene convey information to your audience.
Ned Stark beheaded the kneeling deserter. "The man who gives the sentence should swing the sword," he told his son.
Tell is spoon feeding the information to your audience.
Ned Stark was a stern but fair man.
Both meanings are valid because they are dependant on the medium. Something visual can get away with no words at all, as long as the actions are clear enough for the audience to understand. For a literal piece of text like a book, of course it is about giving exposition through the story's reality rather than a character or the narrator stopping time to elaborate for 20 minutes about how nice someone is.
Show don't tell is how you turn a potentially excellent 2 hour movie into a 3 season series that get cancelled after 1 season.
I like number 8. A protagonist doesn't need to look positive or competent to make them more likeable. I feel like a protag with actual and ovbious flaws like being hated or imcopetent is more interesting as long as they progress well as the story goes on. The important thing is to let the protag get their goals in the end.
Or to have him fail in a way that'll still satisfy the reader...
Even listening to published authors is not always the best advice because their advice worked for THEM to get published....something else may work for you
Absolutely. And the industry is constantly changing, so what worked for someone 3 years ago might not work today.
survivorship bias
As for #3... I find that I do research as I go. For example, I had a scene in my story where two people are fighting violently, and the fight spills into the back of a leather tannery where various tools and instruments are then used as make-shift weapons during the sprawling fight... turns out, I had to do a lot of research on tanning tools, specifically medieval leather working tools for a fight scene that lasted all of two or three pages. It was a nuisance, it brought productivity to a screeching halt, but it was crucial in establishing a believable world setting, and it's one of the things in my story I am most proud of.
#5... I will admit that I smiled at this one. The entire first volume of my light novel series is a prologue. LOL
#7... I find a lot of writing guides to be tedious and self-serving to the authors that wrote them. Elements of Style is what I tell people to avoid alongside Lynne Truss's _Eats, Shoots & Leaves_. That being said, I think it's wrong to dismiss writing guides altogether.
If I may offer, Bad Writing Advice #11 - Only Write Dynamic Characters.
False. A good character that grows over the course of a story and has some profound life-altering event where their world view is shattered and they become a better person at the end is not always required. In fact it's becoming cliche to the point of laughable to expect this of every main character. A static character is just as great and can be just as compelling. Dynamic characters are changed by their outward encounters, people, events. Static characters change the world, those around them, through their encounters and the events they share. In a nutshell, a dynamic character is surrounded by static characters, and a static character is surrounded by dynamic characters.
Agreed on your #11. Characters can change themselves OR change the world around them
I am with you all the way on ALL this advice, Brandon! I just finished a novel that takes place for a short time in the 1920s. I did my research AS I was writing. I looked up music of the period, popular slang terms, and types of vehicles owned by the characters when I needed them. I really appreciate your videos and suggestions!!!
Awesome! Glad your writing's going great
That seems a lot less stressful than doing all the research before hand.
I would argue that doing that would discourage me from writing historical fiction.
@@channel45853 I found if I "researched" material beforehand, I wasted a lot of time looking up information I really didn't need. Fortunately, my mom was born in 1915 and I remember incidents she shared with me about her childhood.
"Show don't tell" is a perfect advice for movie makers, but I didn't even know some give this advice to writers!
It's a horribly insidious piece of non-advice that results in stories like this:
"John looked and his face contorted in agony as he held his stomach. The plane lifted off and he clenched his fists and tears fell down his cheeks."
Instead of poetically writing how agonizing it was to witness his girlfriend leave forever, we instead just show a bunch of physical actions that have NO emotional impact whatsoever. But, hey, at least we're "showing," lol.
@@Selrisitai For visual media it's a perfect piece of advice, as the whole point of visual media is to, literally, show
This could fall under the one right way, but any absolutist advice about adverbs, grammar, or punctuation choice is bad. There are conventions and it is valuable to know and understand them, but slavish obedience to them strangles the writer's voice slowly but surely.
Yep, the rules are meant to be broken
Show don't tell doesnt literally mean "show objective details". It means use subtext, reveal things about your characters by their actions and avoid on the nose dialogue. Oftentimes, withholding information adds an extra layer of intrigue to keep the reader hooked - as opposed to exposition dumping all information as soon as it comes up in the story. Ellen Brock has some great videos about this
As far as "show don't tell" goes, a lot of scifi fi, fantasy, and horror works really well by giving vague descriptions which allow the reader to fill in the gaps in their own way.
Explains the glut of SF novellas.
#2: I read an article by the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once, where he said that he wrote a story set in a small town, and he was criticized because he had lived in whole life in New York City and had never lived in a small town. But, he said, he failed to heed this advice, because he went on to write many stories set on other planets, and he had never been to another planet.
I think the worst advice I've ever gotten is "just start writing". I'd immediately lost the plot and tone to the point where it'd be easier to just start over. Outlining is definitely key for my success
I am the exact opposite - I lose the drive and passion for the story if I outline too much. I figure out my characters, my world and then just throw a bit a chaos/conflict and see how they react. I mean, I know where it will eventually lead, but I have created half of my characters simply because they needed to be there as opposed to planning out who they are (after they pop into existence, I flesh them out in my head of course). That is the great thing about this (and really any form of) art - There are an infinite number of angles to come at it. I have become better about outlining, but I honestly try to avoid it as much as possible!
Yes - this idea of writers "staring at a blank page" baffles me.
I 'm a pantser that researches as I go. Often the research opens the storyline to different avenues entirely. I like to see where things go naturally. You can always fix it in the next draft anyway.
I took this advise to be an encourager for those who talk about wanting to write. It could be write an outline. Write a short story. Do a writing exercise. Something that flexes those writing muscles.
Personally, I find sitting at the keyboard and writing whatever comes to mind is often enough to break the dam. The first few lines or pages even might be garbage but it gets the creative juices flowing.
It depends on the type of person you are, I think planning is better than making it up as you go but both planning and not planning have drawbacks.
For example, if you don't plan, you will likely have a harder time continuing to write your story compared to writers that do.
And for the other side, if you do plan, you could end up restricting your writing and become too committed to the plan that it may come as a detriment to the story. You could become overly focused on the plot and not expand on the other elements as well.
I always tell writers to "write what you're on the verge of knowing."
Dude, that's actually brilliant 😲
@@abbierose2278 oh wow thank you;)
I needed this, thank you
Thrilled that it helped!
@@ParticleBomb
What is one piece of bad writing advice that didn't work for you? Let us know!
@TheStinkyPoopooHeadz Fundamentals are waaay more important. If you nail your fundamentals, themes will often emerge on their own
@TheStinkyPoopooHeadz They definitely add depth and impact to a story, but I think they've become overvalued in recent years and a lot of writers have been trying to force a message rather than tell a story
@TheStinkyPoopooHeadz You bring up a good point--it's all about what the reader wants most out of a story. I'm not big on theme; neither are you. So for us, a theme-heavy story isn't going to engross us as much as a story that's geared toward other story elements like plot, character, etc.
That one you gave in another video about how all your verbs have to be striking and dynamic so don’t say “walked”, etc.
Sometimes a character can just walk across the room. Sometimes the mundane can be even more poignant. Not everything has to be as melodramatic as a late 80s Marvel comic.
Worst writing advice I ever got for me was "You need to have a network of Beta readers so you can have many people giving you feedback on every step of your writing process." I ended up finding one Beta reader and having someone read every chapter as I draft it felt stifling and made me second guess myself. I couldn't imagine finding a half dozen more like was suggested to me and going through all that. Yes, a Beta/Edit/etc can be amazing but this advice was just too much. Much happier finishing a work now and then getting other people to read it :)
Show Don't Tell is always a frustrating one because sometimes you can really only tell someone what's going on. Trying to explain it visually winds up being so long-winded in certain cases or winds up being vague enough that people miss what's happening.
Thanks Brandon. One of the best videos I've seen on TH-cam! I just liked and subscribed. And I'm ordering both of your books.
I'm in my seventies and, for reasons too numerous to list here, I am getting ready to launch my writing career. Was on the fence about whether I should send out some short stories first. Fortunately you solved that. Instinctively, I feel I need to develop a solid, interesting lead character first. To paraphrase a bit of King advice, I'm going to let strong characters loose, as they try to solve their problems and then hang on for the ride. Hopefully typing fast enough to keep up with them! Fortunately I'm vegan and in very good health. Probably got about 20 lucid, productive years left. But I'm not immortal. Got to get to it. Thanks again for your input and I wish you the all the best with your career.
The best piece of writing advice I got was actually from my mum. I told her I often got annoyed when I didn't write fast enough to finish a story but she said 'it will all worked itself out as you go on, don't rush it'
This actually indeed did work itself out as elements I used in another story when pausing on one actually helped to work into parts of that story I was struggling with.
The main advice I myself can give is don't worry about not reading classics. Just read the books you yourself want to read. Don't force yourself to read a story you know you're not liking.
Realizing I could jump right into writing novel-length pieces is honestly what saved me from giving up writing. The first thing my brain does when I get attached enough to an idea to pursue it is it pretty much naturally develops complex layers of narrative that really only can be fully explored in something novel or series length. Obviously, I *am* saving the things that ended up series length for once I have a few novel-length pieces under my belt, but writing standalone novels happened to be my ideal course of action for honing my craft. I can go as deep into the worlds as I want and I don’t have to stay relegated to representing only a moment or snippet of time in this world I want to spend so much more time in.
New subscriber here. You're really giving me motivation to write this book that has been floating around in my head.
Awesome, best of luck with it! And thanks for subbing!
I don't listen to the write what you know rule. Whenever I research on something (Example: US Marine for a character) I look at the actual website, watch real Marine videos, take in depth notes, look at actual documents, and more. So much that I feel like I actually became one (no offense intended.)
I do this because I haven't personally experience it. So to write an effective Marine I research more than necessary. Even if it doesn't matter or make into the novel I keep information to mold the character with the knowledge.
Sometimes the extra information helps me to understand better. I'm a method writer.
Nice... I did something similar with my guitarist main character from Bad Parts.
Since I've never played in a band before I read a bunch of rock & roll memoirs and did some research on musician sites for what kind of gear they use.
So you're saying you learned about a thing before you wrote about it? Sounds like writing what you know to me.
@@Lilliathi "Writing what you know" mostly refers to when someone actually lives or have expert knowledge on the subject they write.
The bad advice I was thinking about when I wrote my comment is when a writer refuses or becomes too scared to step out of their comfort zone to write something that they know next to nothing about.
@@berry186
Well that's a bad interpretation. I'll happily agree that people who interpret it that way are wrong and honestly silly, but writing about something you don't know anything about is also a bad idea.
You'll just make something inaccurate that'll piss people who know about the subject off, and misinform those who don't.
Number 8 is a harder one. When people say a protagonist needs to be “likable”, I think they are saying they have to be someone you care what happens to them. There are plenty of movies and books I never finished because I just didn’t care if they solved the conflict. But I have watched stories where the main character isn’t a “good” person, and you still keep watching.
I guess it depends on what you want to do with the protagonist and what their role is for the story. If your goal for the protagonist is for them to be the hero of the story, its fine to have them suck very much initially, but if they don't change or grow through-out the story where it feels like they are actually worthy of reaching their goals, it becomes very hard to care about them or the story. Whats even worse is if the author bends the world around the character in some type of "I'm perfect the way I am, its the rest of the world that needs to change for me" while in-directly writing the "hero" of the story as a complete prick while every other character in the story just unnaturally ignores it, Ive learned to catch onto this and usually stop reading works like this immediately.
The worst piece of writing advice l got was that l needed a writing workshop to encourage me. I spent years meeting and socializing weekly with a group whom l came to realize were all convincing each other how great they were.
I agree, workshops are not for me either.
Well as a comic author. I have to draw everything I write in to my script. That'll teach you to be economical with what you show and what you tell. And wasting time means lots of drawings of nothing. Which is not only boring, but also making the entire project more difficult.
So I always blow it up and then trim it as much as I can, untill nothing more can be trimmed.
You don't need to explain characters childhood in order to flash out his motivations. You don't have to expose the reader to why the world is the way it is. You just draw the weird stuff in the background and all over letting reader explore and discover the outlines of what happened / is happening.
So for me best method is to try to storyboard your story xD.
I love prologues, the current WIP I'm working on right now is two pages but I think it's pretty cool because it gives an insight in who the protagonist is before reading chapter 1 where he does something rather questionable
Yep, prologues can be interesting, and more importantly they can frame the overall story in a way that make it more accessible.
I don't think Show Don't Tell is what you say it is at all. It's more about illustrating an event rather than expositing about it. So say -- I could show a character being friends with another character by having a scene where they bond over something...or I could just have the character say "you're my best friend." I think creating scenes to demonstrate relationships is what it's about.
I knew you were gonna mention "show, don't tell." Haha. I'll agree as far as descriptions like you mentioned. As far as plot development, telling will always just be boring, lazy info dumping.
Haha I had to! Big moments deserve to be shown, but smaller stuff can be told
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty agree
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty I like to think the most annoying bits of show don't tell are expositional, unnatural dialogue lol. And when there's a lack of nuance and subtlety.
@@betarugula8886 Yeah, the "As You Know Bob" type of dialogue is no good
Nothing I hate more than a brother reminding his brother they are in fact brothers or being told that car accident 4 years ago was bad. I do agree I don't need to know how the man dresses down to the thread count of the suit.
Hello Brandon,
Really greatful to have found this channel, been watching lots of your videos for the past few months. I have wanted to be a writer for around a decade now, but I have always limited myself and really struggle to get myself out there. Between doing collage, I have been trying to do a lot of creative writing no matter what it is, just going for it and trying to figure it out as I go. I feel more like I am embracing failure now which I think is better in the long run.
Most of these that you mentioned, I have struggled with in the past.
I’m so glad to hear some of these points, no one should over limit themselves with something creative like writing! I spent months world building but since I found this channel (just a few days ago) I’ve gone from having a couple of unfinished first draft chapters to nearly 6,000 words and 4 complete second draft chapters. Thank you so much and I can’t wait to read Entry Wounds it sounds like such a brilliant concept, I love a good psychological thriller :)
Thrilled to hear the channel's helping! And thanks so much for checking out Entry Wounds! Hope you enjoy it, and please consider leaving a brief Amazon review when you finish
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Thanks I’ll make sure to!
@@WilliamReginaldLucas Thanks!
I definitely fell into the trap of planning too much. I got told all my life in school about the importance of an outline. So I started outlining my book. The first outline was a broad overview of the scenes and main characters. Then I started making outlines of each character. Suddenly I was outlining each chapter and the page count. It got to the point where I had an almost paragraph by paragraph outline. Weeks and months wasted that I could have been writing the story. In the end, now that I’m writing it, the story is developing itself. Half of what was planned is out the window because one small sentence changes core elements that I had never considered.
Love your videos! They're always jam-packed with great information!
Thanks!
1:45 I took “write what you know” as “if you don’t know something, do research on it before writing it into your story so you know what you’re doing.” I guess that was just my different way of thinking lol
It's really refreshing to hear all this. You're vocalising a lot of half-thoughts that have been floating in the back of my mind for years. I think this actually gives you a lot of credibility as a writing coach too, because you have logic behind your "controversial" points.
#3 describes why "the Martian" succeeded the writer talked to experts as he wrote to make it as realistic and interesting as he could.
As a reader, the word "prologue" is an immediate red flag. It signals to me these are pages the writer didn't have the heart to cut. If it truly is essential to the book, just call it chapter 1 so it doesn't allow readers to say "Yeah, I think I'll ignore that."
Don't "write what you know," write what interests you and the knowledge will come.
Plot structure focused writing advice. I see it all over the place. You can always tell an author who writes for the plot structure because the story will be anemic, contrived, and uninspired stories with a textbook plot structure.
This way of writing is backwards. Good structure comes from a good story with good writing - but the reverse isn’t true.
The writers who focus on inspiration (artistic, dream, emotional, etc…) and writing strong characters who push the story, and writing about interesting events, ironically have superior structure to those who focus on plotting.
To give example categories: crappy horror and crappy romantic stories. The sort where characters feel like they’re making dumb illogical decisions that feel wrong for the character (or any kind of a real person) but fit the plot. Even their motivations and personality will shift to serve the plot rather than the rational path of the character.
Stephen King vs RL Stine is the perfect example of this. With King, you have characters that feel real, interesting, and timeless stories. With Stine, you have well plotted bad stories… RL Stine is like the book equivalent of those terrible 187 Candace Cameron Christmas specials… and somehow this crap still sells. And ironically, the organic pathing of Stephen King books has more interesting (superior) structure to Stine’s books. On the other hand, if you’re looking to pump out soulless factory crafted work, Candace Cameron Christmas Specials and RL Stine horror seems like a winning strategy for sales; but, these works will never be classics
Show don't tell means, that you shouldn't explain what can just be shown/seen.
For example, don't let a character explain who a person x is and h ow this person is always angry and yells around and is getting pissed at all kind of things, but when this person X shows up, let them explode over something, be angry about it, that's enough for the reader/audience to get it and feels way more natural.
You can of course let character A warn character B to be careful around person x, if this is something character A fears character B would mess up for example.
My #1 advice for people is: Don't limit yourself to one thing
Like people think the only way to get better is to finish everything, and that's so untrue. You should do 100 things, let your creativity flow like its meant to, eventually you'll stumble across something you know you want to finish, before that never feel guilt for giving up on something
I'm so grateful for this video. I was instinctively doing all these things before ever learning "the rules."
I once wrote a great murder mystery, with really graphic, visceral murders and an intriguing plot line. Obviously, I WASN'T "writing what I knew," but did a lot of research. In fact, the research taught me things that helped advance and adapt the storyline based on what I'd learned along the way.
For the prologues thing, one of my writing teachers said "people tend not to read them". And it sounded so wrong. I ALWAYS read the prologues and epilogues. I made a poll on tumblr, and 100% of the votes said they read both every time, so I'm not sure what he was on about.
I finished 2 full length stories before I attempted to write a short story. And I save everything I start because sometimes I need a break to write something else before I can finish the original story, or I find it fits into a future idea.
The piece of writing advice I can't work with is "Write a really rough draft, it doesn't matter how bad it is, just get the words down on the page". That works for many people, I'm sure, but I don't think it's as universal as they imagine. My motivation and morale won't hold up if I'm not writing something that I think is at least pretty good... I like to work and rework as I go along so that I know I'm doing something worthwhile, otherwise I get too depressed!
#6 - Yes! Definitely - I've written 8 novels and have an agent, and I still can't write short stories. I'm very envious of my friends who can.
The problem with taking "Show, don't tell" as bad writing advice is that doing so doesn't apply to all mediums. This video seems to be focused mostly on writing novels and those, along with plays, might be relevant to ignoring that advice. However if you are writing a movie it's a different story. Movies are inherently visual and talking about something when you can show it can often make it duller. Exposition can often fall into the "tell" category if it's used as an excuse not to show something.
I really needed to hear #3. Thanks
Anytime. Best of luck balancing your researching!
"show, don't tell" is a very relevant piece of advice but just like everything it must not be taken to an extreme. It's a question of balance. It's perfectly ok to write "they were good friends for years" than trying to show it in a long tedious dialogue whatsoever. It saves the readers time and interest for more important things...
It's all about the believability and quality of the writing. If it is relevant to the character or the plot, then it is certainly a good idea to make them say something akin to "Man, it has been a long time since the golden days, hasn't it?"
@@lpfan4491 Exactly. Or something like "she had not seen him wearing a shirt and tie for ages". It says they had known each other "for ages" and raises the question of the shirt and tie. But I guess this is somewhat showing rather than telling, not sure 🤔
Nonetheless sometimes it is very convenient to describe things as they are : the room was small and had many pictures of her on the wall. In one corner was a small wooden table etc, etc... As long as it is relevant for the story and doesn't go on for too long.
Yeah I get where he’s coming from on the show don’t tell bit but I still think it’s an invaluable piece of advice that you just need discretion on when to employ. A critical component of writing is planting questions in your reader’s mind, or writing things in such a way that they can maker their own inferences. You really just have to know when it makes sense to use it and that is very situational. Sometimes telling is incredibly more efficient and practical, absolutely.
I really appreciate it Brandon. I needed to hear this, I’m currently writing and illustrating my own comics but I feel confident. Like you mentioned, I’m going to do what works for me!
Great! Neither Hailey new about airports, neither Crichton about dinosaurs. Yet they wrote those great books. And obviously, Lou in Nightcrawler in not likeable at all, yet it’s a great movie.
Yeah, and the irony is that Michael Crichton made a ton of people WANT to know about dinosaurs
Character over Plot. Many years ago, I took a screenwriting class. The professor on day 1 said his class was focused on character development and plot was secondary. When I create a story, I think of characters and plot together and let my thought process develop them together. I told him this, and he said that I should write action movies then, because if I'm going to focus on plot, then action movies are where I should be. I walked out of a his class when the his said this.
The one piece of good advice I was told, for every rule of what not to do in writing is a story that does it, and does it amazingly well.
For me (a gentleman of a certain age), the emphasis on Character at the expense of Story badly unbalances much modern television. For one thing, it requires that the characters be utterly riveting, because the story isn't, and the whole thing fails if they are not. I recently watched some episodes of the relatively recent TV series 'Bones' (which now airs on about three of the broadcast nostalgia TV channels), and was amazed at how much time was spent on the ongoing character melodramas with unconvincing characters, while the actual crime investigation was almost a distraction of the characters from the melodrama (rather like a show like 'Saved By The Bell' or 'Dawson's Creek' where the kids go to school to set up their social interactions, but never learn anything in a classroom; classes are a distraction from the real business of socializing). In a Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode, Spock and Uhura are on an urgent mission to solve a problem and they just stop, for no evident reason, in the middle of their research to have a Character Moment. This is what passes for 'good writing' nowadays.
Don't even get me started about Amazon's "Rings of Power" where the story lines are filled with absurdities at every turn, but the characters are, for the most part, even worse. Whenever I hear a show advertised as "character-driven", I run, not walk, to my bookshelves.
@@majkus They did it again on Strange New Worlds with Spock and Nurse Chapel. He left a very tense military scene to go have a moment with the nurse. I thought, "That was clunky."
I remember looking for tips for writing villains (they're my favorite part of writing tbh). There was a lot of great tips such as giving them a relation to the themes of the story, making them a complete force of chaos, giving them moments that show where they specialize (are they manipulative, do they use brute force, ect.), give them something distinct like a motif or personality trait that stands out, and all kinds of other aspects which is mostly various ways of saying to make sure your villains are diverse and interesting.
However, there was one video on villain writing tips that was literally just nothing but tips for traumatic backstories. The intro to the video literally stated that it was the only thing that mattered.
Main Tip: If you are making a villain, don't use a backstory as a crutch. Yes, they can help flesh out a character (heck, one of my villains was pretty boring until I gave her a backstory and set up her personality and motives around it), but they should NEVER be the ONLY thing going for them.
Love the good stuff in Stephen King's On Writing, but there's so much garbage advice in there as well to be honest. I was wondering if you could do a video on similes. How to come up with clever and original ones, and avoiding clichés etc.
My thoughts exactly on SK's On Writing. Some of the best and worst advice around.
I'll brainstorm a Similes video and try to get in out in the coming weeks. Anything else specific you want in that video?
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Would be nice to know when it's best to use similes, and how to make writing more evocative through their use. If you can think of any memorable examples from other books to include that would be cool as well.
@@TheLonelyCosmonaut Sweet, I'll brainstorm this. Should be up sometime this month
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Thanks Brandon, you're the man!
My dad hates Stephen King. Growing up, my siblings and I weren’t allowed to mention him in the house. We secretly watched his book based movies, read his books, etc.
I wrote a novel called Oro and Azra, and took...10 years. Lol...I wrote it by chapters, 1400 words per, but some would be shorter, depending on the scene. Had a prologue, and then right into the world.
Third act was most difficult. You want to tie up loose ends, but instead focus on main plot, trust in the story. It took me ten years, because I tried rewriting it, over and over, but the first draft was always most succinct. I ended up keeping the ...originality. I find that when u try too much editing, it sucks the soul out of it
1400 words per chapter seems very brief, interesting to know that you could work it out
Worst piece of advice that really hurt my writing back in the day was “just write.” It’s good for experienced writers who understand the craft, but not so much for the newbie.
I had the same with art: "Just do what you want" Ok...I want to understand light, you gonna help with that?
The worst writing advice I ever got, which were more like demands, was from a feminist. She told me that my protagonist had to be a real boss lady and put men in their place (by being abusive and ungrateful) in order to be taken seriously. I told her to go pound sand and she has hated me ever since.
I’ve heard “start small, and then think bigger as you go along” but it doesn’t work for me. I’ve got everything already decided before I start in like 30 minutes(the world, the plot points, characters, ect), and then I’ll write and change things as I go. That piece of writing advice actually put me off of writing for a long time.
Worst writing advice I ever got was to use my finger to space out words, that took forever and the spaces were too big.
my favourite part about "show don't tell" is when the same person follows it up with "chekov's gun"
forgetting for a moment that chekov dedicated an entire page to describing his well muscled and handsome self insert in his novel, it's the dissonance of "show everything" but also "if you show something, it should be important" that really gets me.
I guess the problem with most writing advices is the overthinking of an intuitive craft and gift. Nowadays people tend to go to extremes and think through everything until it turns into a "theres only ONE WAY to do it right" thing. And people tend to proselytize about things.
I always had a feeling for how good storytelling works.
You learn a lot when you read a lot and watch a lot of movies. It trained my compass on pace, structure and tropes. Stephen King himself said that he grew up reading a lot and watching tv a lot. I guess thats why his storytelling is how it is.
And many authors know all of these "rules" very well and write great storys when they break the rules.
Discovered your videos and channel only a few days ago, and I'm hooked. This video is the perfect example of why: your insightful and *pragmatic* approach is fresh and powerful. (And it saddens me to think that some aspiring - and younger? - writers believe they need an MFA to write a novel!) Thanks for your great advice and encouragement!
I disagree with Show vs Tell being bad advice. If I draw a picture and have to tell someone what it is they're looking at, my drawing skill is bad or too abstract for an everyday person to enjoy.
Strongly agree with "finishing everything you write" being horrible advice. Forcing yourself to write something you're not feeling at the moment is the kiss of death for your story. The only appropriate time to work on something you're not creatively firing on all cylinders with is when you're editing; which always sucks ass to do regardless. If you're losing interest in writing something, put it on the back burner and work on something else
I believe a lot of these tips started out good and got misinterpreted. In particular, “write what you know.” Even if you’re writing high fantasy or sci-fi, it can feel more real if you sprinkle in things you know where it fits.
Speaking more directly, one thing I’ve always hated is suggestions from people that don’t take me seriously. I have yet to have actually finished writing anything, granted, but I have plenty of ideas that I’m excited for and a few that I’m working on right now, but I absolutely hate it when the conversation moves to my stories and I give just a simple synopsis to gauge the story to the person, and the person gives wacky, outlandish, or even absurd suggestions.
One example is when I tell someone what one of my stories is about and they tell me to put, “It was all a dream!” on my final page, or if it’s someone that I know more personally and they ask me to write about myself, or when someone that I don’t like is trying to mock me by giving a shitty title like “The Life of Zero” as if the title itself is a hilarious joke at my expense.
Some people seem to genuinely like my ideas and are now interested in reading whatever I may finish, but every now and then there’s someone with suggestions worse than plagiarizing the dictionary.
I know I'm around a year late and I doubt anyone will see this, but the fact that "Show, don't tell" is categorized as a bad piece of advice really struck me. I had to take a small pause and then re-listen to what you said about it.
For a little context, I've been writing for as long as I can remember, from evil cats to cakes who turn into children and beferiend mermaids. Cheerleaders with murderers, secret dimension in a mirror, 3 AM callings, you name it. I never really had anyone to share my work with except my father, because everything I wrote was in English and I live in a country where English isn't spoken very often. Around two-three years ago, when I was approximately ten, I found out about the Creepypasta Wiki. I was absolutely obsessed with Creepypastas at the time, mostly the characters, not the stories or the history, like right now. After finding out that on that wiki you needed to write horror stories, hence the name of the Wiki. CThe word Creepypasta came from the word copypasta, which is/were blocks of texts and images to send over to other people as spam, copy and pastes, but then the word "creepy" was added on since those copypastas were about how the image of SMILEDOG.exe would haunt you and force you to doing unhappy things with your life if you didn't repost his image, or how Slenderman would kill you if you didn't send a message to ten people.
I started writing my absolute heart out. The reason wy I was so confident in posting my work there was because I already posted some of my work on Quotev, mostly Creepypasta fanfics, and one of them reached a thousand views and I've never been prouder of myself. To say the least, my determination was very quickly crumbled by the critique of the Creepypasta Wikia, who was *prettty damn harsh* to my stories. A large majority of them got deleted, and I think only three of them got complimented: a story about overprotective parents killing their child's friends to make pinatas, a child being haunted by their past mistakes in the form of being stuck in a video game which they had no control over, and, most important one, Widow's Closet.
Widow's Closet held no real "do this or you'll die" meaning, it was mostly little me wondering about te secrets of my school. I made up this character "Claire" who got hit in the face during dodgeball and had to go the girl's dressing room to put her cold water bottle to her face. Similarly to *my* school's dressing room, there was a square hole at the top of one of the walls, almost touching the ceiling. I've always been curious about what it holds, since I was too short to reach it (again, I was barely 11), and I thought I'd be breaking some sort of school rule. So I decided to make up a whole story about a nest of widow spiders living in that little square hole, and when Claire opens the hole, she manages to time it to when it was only a few minutes past the spider giving birth to a hell ton of spiders, all of which immediately climbed on to Claire, started going in her hair, her mouth, her nose and under her clothes. I don't actually *think* as of right now that spiders cannibalize humans, but a few minutes after being ambushed by the spiders Claire was nothing more than a corpse with chewed off flesh. A efw moments later, the janitor of the story walks it, picks up the widow spider and starts cooing to her like a pet, or a child, congratulating her on giving birth and talking about how responsible the spider was for finding food for herself and her family, after which the janitor hid the body in the second, human-sized closet.
Wow, okay, that sounds like definitely something I wrote. Not sarcasm. Anyway, the critique's words exactly were: "It's not bad, honestly. *It could do with more showing, rather than telling, so I suggest doing some research on how to do this*. Honestly, though, it was a fun ride and I never knew where it was going to go. The complicit janitor at the end was a darkly funny twist that made it all the more enjoyable. Nice work!". I think it's obvious that I was extremely proud of my work, so I may have tied a bit too hard to make more stories that they'd like after that but to no avail. But the "It could do with more showing rather than telling" always stuck to me, because I *never* understood what it meant. I did a quick skim of research somewhere along my years and started subconsciously doing what was asked of me all this time ago-- I relied on detailed descriptions of scenery, character emotions, situations, and so forth.
As of late, I've been listening to a hell ton of podcasts because I can't really spend my time doing anything else. Not writing, not drawing, reading, knitting, NOTHING. This is te fourth video that popped up from your channel on my randomly picked out videos, and I'm kind of glad that it did. Hearing you talk about how the advice of "Show, don't tell." isn't exactly the best when for years I've been leaning on it because some old woman on the internet witha little pixel badge on a Wikia said so was a surprise. I'll be honest, I don't know where I was leading with this comment, but I just wanted to voice my opinion and how grateful I am for this video!!
I think the short story advice is true. For new writers is great to learn short stories for multiple reasons. Just the success of finishing a story is a big deal, and getting into the habit of writing continuously. But I completely agree with you, that the structure of the two don't have much in common.
You could play a very smart bad guy with a smooth, calming voice, you really have that look about you! Errr I guess that's a compliment? 😁
Hahah I’ll take it. Would love to be the bad guy!
Good ideas. As a reader I find myself annoyed by writers who want to show and never just tell. I took a little writing class one time and the instructor gave us a sample of his writing that "told" and a re-write that"showed". His intention was to show us how much better the second one was, but I preferred the first.
My two cents: Every piece of writing advice is bad advice if it's not clearly defined and explained. Even then not every advice fits every author. The you have to outline thing has cost me years of my life cause I can't do it and stick to it to save my life. I can outline for others but not for me. I also can't be bothered to write 5k a day. I'm not a lady of leisure I have things to do. (I've finished 6 books and a bunch of shortstories without plotting) My tipps for beginners are: 1. Don't listen to others, find out what works for you. 2. Tell the story you want to read. 3. If you get writes block you need to listen to yourself. Either body is telling you you're dooing to much or your unconscious brain tells you there is something wrong with your story. 4. Learn from your mistakes, we all make them all the time. Good thing with a manuscript you can correct them. 5. No your unique Idee is not unique. But that's not a bad thing.
no one ever addresses 'know your audience' this is the most important part. trouble is I can't find out who my audience is because people in the business won't share that type of info. I like si-fi and just aim my books at myself. what would I like to read.
My dad (who is not a writer) gave me a lot of discouraging advice, he told me not to try and write a novel and just do short stories first, he told me I'm not a real writer until I get something published, and he told me I should just write the first story I wrote when I was seven because that's the best thing I've ever written. Thanks to the internet, I have access to advice from other writers, which is actually helpful, or at least not as harmful as that.
Man, I love this channel! Thank you for the video, really excellent!
Thank you so much. I wanted to write about a character who gets PTSD in the end, but I was worried it would come off as disrespectful because I don’t know much about PTSD. But now I feel more encouraged about doing it. Thank you.
Also one of my favorite anime’s is death note, and the main character in that one is a manipulative serial killer who is bare minimum redeemable because he wants to rid the world of evil.
Whatever you do don't stop and fix something. Mark it and keep going. Well every subsequent chapter/scene will have to change. I kept going. I wrote the novel in 6 weeks, but I had to do a complete rewrite. I should have stopped at chapter/scene 6 and fixed what did not work. NEVER GOING TO DO THAT AGAIN! Love this channel.
'Write what you know' is not literal. It's supposed to mean write to your strengths. That does not mean you only write only to your strengths either.
5:53
First time Novel writer in, 220 pages in. I have found that it isn't writing short stories that improves your craft. I have written a few, but it has been years. What I found to be helpful was reading or hearing narrations. It allowed me to learn via a decade of osmosis. Not exactly how to write and pace, but it gave me some good feels and pointers
Writing and Non-writing advice for writers - 1. Listen to no advice - 2. Read a lot - until you find out what you like and don't like - 3. transcribe (copy) in whole or in part without adding or taking anything away from the books you like (we're talking about novels here) - you'll incorporate the stuff of your favorite authors - snoop around in the machine - find out what a boring paragraph or a failed chapter is and a sentence that works and a useful paragraph - if you have a real personality and ideas of your own, You risk nothing - you may discover that you have joined some kind of family or clan and that, like your new friends, you have the same style - what in painting is called being part of a school - or you may be unable to free yourself from the grip of a master who has taught you everything
A lot of these rules give you a great excuse to not start or continue writing.
The idea that I have to finish whatever I write has definitely hurt my ability for writing short stories, where the ending always feels rushed because I hit some snag or writers block and instead of coming back to the story when my think tank was working again I instead tear through the story so that I could close that story and say I finished something.
I'd much rather take my time and have everything I wrote feel like a magnum opus to me than rushing on them when I get stuck and feeling like I'm not good enough because of how the final product came out.
3:32...I literally thought I was the only one on the planet that thought that the whole "Show don't Tell" thing was a shit piece of advice. There are numerous things throughout a novel ora movie that HAVE to be told,since it would make no sense to show it.
Number 7 can be generalized for learning the theory in any kind of artistic endeavour.
Whilst there are cases where people could do great art with no knowledge of the theory behind it, true, knowing the theory helps understand *why* some choices are preferred over others. Not only this, but it can also show you how to properly deconstruct and/or go against a rule; theory tells you why that rule exists and if you actually understand the why, you can much more easily "subvert tropes" than just doing it blind.
This also ties with 10. Knowing the theory can reveal much more easily the options to you (or allow you to create new options)
I pretty much agree with all of these except "show don't tell". I understand that there needs to be a balance and sometimes you must explain what a character is doing as opposed to a direct action sequence, but we feel the characters more if can visualize and feel them doing the action instead of just saying: Jonny did this, and then Jonny did that. If I say: The old dusty frame felt surprisingly cold in Johnny's hand. It was the last thing he had expected to notice following the fire. Tears began welling under his eyelids, splattering on the broken glass as they fell. This dirty faded image of his mother was all that he had left to remember her by. That reads a bit better than: Jonny held the dirty broken picture in his hand. He couldn't help it. The fire destroyed almost everything. He began to cry. Some of his tears fell onto the broken glass. This dirty old picture was all he had left to remember his late mother by.
I was told in Sixth grade that I couldn't be any good at writing because I had sloppy handwriting. Fortunately, I didn't listen to my teacher.
Hahah just needed a keyboard
@@WriterBrandonMcNulty *Chuckles*. Nice, real nice!
Honestly, the "you must write from beginning to end," as well as, "write what you know," and, "do all of your research first," are three huge issues I've had to overcome. I do much better writing the scenes I know will occur and then going back and filling in. I'm writing about places I've never been and I'm picking up my research as I go. The other thing is that I should aim for X number of words. I find it best to write my first draft in as many or as few words as possible and then trim or expand as necessary.
These points are very helpful. #3 in particular since I'm planning to start my own graphic novel and I've been doing a shit ton of research for over a year now. For #4 what you described seems to be the reverse of Show don't tell, since the description you gave sounds more like "showing" but nevertheless I think I see your point, that descriptions shouldn't be too short or too long. #8 is also quite helpful since my idea has a main character who may not be too likable.
As for a bad writing tip that was detrimental to me, I'd say it's the idea that self-inserts never work
"Finish everything you write" is such bad advice, not just because sometimes you lack passion, but because sometimes you realize in the middle of a story that what you have been writing, the plot, the scenes, the characters, just DON'T WORK. Sometimes you realize you cannot solve a problem you place in your story in the first place and trying to solve it at that moment might lead you to constantly smashing against a brick wall. In those cases is better to leave the story for later. Maybe a week, a month, or even a year from now you'll suddenly come up with a way to restructure it and finally finish it.
I enjoy the aspect of research. I'm one of those 'in-between' writers - neither a pure pantser, nor a pure planner. If, during the course of writing I have an idea regarding technology, then I'll start exploring and looking into the possible tech, and in the process, I get to learn something new, or correct my thinking which may have been off point. I could not, however, do all the planning and research before I started to write. I'm just not that kind of animal.
Liked, subbed and dinged that bell. Appreciate your good work here. Thank you.
Good tips!
While I don’t think it’s necessarily bad advice, I’ve heard “save the good stuff for later” doesn’t always work. I feel like connecting with a character needs to happen relatively quickly, and we need information to achieve that.
#3: that's what happened to me when I wanted to write historical fiction about the Napoleonic period. I read a ton of books about Napoleon and with every idea that I came up with, I thought: but it didn't really happen like that. So research got in the way of the imagination. And after a while you are reading the same things.
A better term than "likability" is "appeal". That's one of the twelve principles of animation, but it really applies to any creative medium that has characters.
I think something we all writers must understand is that... there's no rules. Anything can work IN A CERTAIN CONTEXT, WITH A CERTAIN GOAL. The best general advice can be awful in your particular history, and the worst advice can work and even turn your history into a masterpiece. But it all depends on the story you're telling, the way you're telling it, what you want to achieve with that story. A plot hole can be turned into a resource, if you are clear how to do it and what you want to make with it. An intelligent resource can turn into something problematic if you don't know what to do with it, when to aply it, how to aply it.
There's people who know all those things before even sitting in front of the white page. I, personally, have to write, and rewrite, and rewrite again to finally get something i like. Find your way. And do not fear to experiment, and to fail. That's also the joy of writing. And many times something that didn't work once can be the key piece to complete another project