The Ghost Part 18

The Ghost Part 18 - The Ghost has to scale a giant wall without any equipment or weapon.

Show and Tell

Hello fellow adventurers!  Welcome to another edition of my blog.  Today we're going to talk about one of the mantras of all good writers.  It's something that I have heard over and over again.  Show don't Tell.  It's something that I have struggled with when writing my first draft, and I'm paying for it now that I am editing.

This past week I have been working on Chapter 8 of my current work in progress.  It started off with some exposition that mentions a conversation between two of the main characters.  I thought, "Why didn't I include that conversation?"  I rewrote a small portion of the chapter and created a whole new chapter.  It also has increased my word count to over 60,000.  That has been my target for this novel from the start.  It will be a little less than my target once I delete the two paragraphs this chapter replaces.  I was able to kill two birds with one stone.

The mantra I referred to earlier is "Show don't Tell".  I see it repeated over and over again in advice blogs, on twitter, and anywhere else you can find authors.  I'm going to tackle this topic backwards starting with "Tell".  As always I want to hear what YOU think!  Why do you think this has become such an important saying with writers? Do you think exposition/telling is good?  Let me know!  My little social media icons are begging you to touch them!

Tell

What is telling?  Is it like when I did something bad, and my (insert sibling's name here) said, "I'm Telling!"

Telling is using exposition to tell a story that has already happened. Exposition is a detailed statement or explanation.  This can also be known as an info-dump. This is a long dark path towards poor writing. 

For example: The characters engage in a heated debate about what to do next.  The author types in detail what each plan is and why they chose the plan that they did.

Why is it bad?

There are many reasons this is bad.  It's harder to read.  It can bore your readers to tears.  It makes kittens cry.  OK maybe not that last one.  Most of the time it will burden your readers with information they don't need. The biggest problem is that you take your characters out of the story.  They aren't taking an active role.  They are still there, but they are sitting on their butts twiddling their thumbs waiting for something to happen. The readers are basically doing the same thing. 

Show

What is showing? It's not like those sex offenders I hear about on the news is it?

Don't worry! This won't get you arrested. I hope not anyway. Showing is keeping everything in the moment.  It is typing out everything as it happens, and how your characters act and react.

For example: The same situation as the previous example.  The author this time types out the whole debate.  The author could also skip that and go right to the characters executing the plan.

Why is it good?

It is what rainbows are made of! Not really. Showing makes the story easier to read.  It is the opposite of Telling as it pertains to it's effect on readers.  Showing keeps the readers in the here and now with your characters.

 

 

The Legend of Hercules

Rated PG-13 / 1 hr 39 min / Action - Adventure

What is it about?

Queen Alcmene realizes that King Amphitryon is not the man she thought she had married.  She realizes that he is a tyrant, and seeks help from the gods to create peace.  Zeus decides to knock her up.  Thus Hercules is born.  Twenty years later Hercules is in love.  Awwww...  Unfortunately for him, his older brother has made arrangements to marry her.  King Amphitryon decides that it is time for Hercules to go off to war.  He doesn't tell our hero that he is supposed to die.  Oops!  Instead he is sold into slavery.  He spends the rest of the movie trying to claw his way back to the woman he loves.

You will like it if...

You like made for TV movies that have an OK story with some decent action.  Everything about this movie from start to finish screams B-movie.  They made a decent choice to play Hercules.  He does a passable job.  Scott Adkins does the best acting job out of everyone, but his performance is lost in the massive failure of everyone else in the movie.  The special effects are also TV movie quality. At times they look laughably cartoonish.  They try so hard to make this like a mix between Gladiator and 300, and it doesn't come close to either.  The fight scenes are the best feature of the movie, and even those are unbelievable and cartoonish in spots.  They try to use the same slow down/speed up transitions that Zack Snyder has used in 300 and The Immortals, but fail to use it properly.  I can't believe they spent 70 million on the budget for this movie.  If you must see this movie, I suggest waiting for redbox to avoid feeling angry for paying full theater prices. 

 

The Ghost Part 17

The Ghost Part 17 - The Ghost starts her journey to escape hell. She has to sneak past Satan in this episode.

New Projects

When starting a new project there is so much excitement and joy.  I feel like I can write the entire story in one sitting.  Unfortunately that is not the case!  It takes several weeks and sometimes months of work to complete the first draft.  That doesn't include the time it takes to edit, format, design the cover, etc.  Then there is the promotion that is needed to help sell it.

Last week I asked what you all thought about my project ideas, and which one I should write next.  The Curse and Grimm seem to be the stories that are generating the most interest.  I have plans on what I am going to do with both of those that I will share in a moment.  I also did not mention my plans for the projects that I am currently working on.

Before I go into that let me recap my week in writing!  I finished editing chapter 7 and started on 8.  Chapter 8 starts off with a ton of exposition.  A conversation between two of the main characters was mentioned, and I thought, "Instead of all of this info dump, why don't I write out this conversation?"  I have written about half of the conversation out, and it is turning out to be much better than what I had written before.  I am still getting the information to the reader and it is easier to read.  Mission accomplished! Now let's talk about my plans for these new projects!

Publishing on Amazon

Virtual Wars: Initialization

This is the first book of the Virtual Wars trilogy.  I also have three short stories that I plan to release for free in a collection called "Booting Up".  I am going to start making posts about the background and history of the world for this series.  They will be posted here on the blog for your reading enjoyment!  A friend of mine said it sounded like a mix between The Hunger Games and Ender's Game when I described it to him.  That is the shortest synopsis I can provide for the series.  This first book follows Miri Stapleton who is a teenager that is trying to find his way in the world.  He is about to enter into the equivalent of high school.  He finds that many things aren't what they seem.  He gets sucked into a world of intrigue and danger while trying to deal with the normal stress of being an awkward high school student.

Untitled Kindle Worlds Project - Wool

I have a rough outline worked out for this.  It takes place after the events in Dust which is the finale in the Wool saga.  Hugh Howey has crafted an intricate world, and I can't wait to dive into it!  This project follows a man in his early 20's who has been paralyzed from the waist down.  He grew up around and has worked in the farms his whole life.  He is sucked into a murder/mystery when one of his friends is brutally murdered.  I may also follow the silo's detective as he investigates the murder as well as the murderer.

Virtual Wars: Running

Book two of the Virtual Wars series.   In the aftermath of the first book the stakes are raised.  I started this series based off a dream that I had several years ago.  The dream sequence takes place early in this book.  I can't wait to write it!  There will be a lot more action and suspense in this sequel.  I have found that the second book in most of my favorite trilogies is my favorite of all.  I think that will be the case for this one as well.

The Curse

I posted a short description for this one last week.  I have a fantastic opening sequence that I have written several times. 

Publishing on Wattpad

The Ghost

This is the story I have been updating weekly.  When I finish the first episode of this, I will move on to the next series that I want to post on Wattpad. 

Grimm

I posted a short desciption of this one recently.  I  plan on posting it on wattpad with weekly updates similar to what I have done with The Ghost story.  If either of these become popular then I will publish a more polished version of these stories on Amazon.

Star Wars Fanfic

I am writing this for the Fourth of May.  I haven't started writing this as of yet, but I plan to publish it on wattpad on Star Wars day.  I have been planning this for the past five or six months.  I don't have an outline for this one yet.  It will be a sci-fi comedy/adventure.