I hate writing action scenes. I’m abysmal at it. I write and re-write my action scenes, and even when I\u2019m done I\u2019m not quite sure I got them right. I\u2019d rather just say \u201cand then they had an epic fight\u201d instead of describing the action, blow by blow.<\/p>\n
I skim over the action scenes so I don’t have to explain them. Explaining is hard!<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not just the action scenes. I have a tendency to want to summarize all of important scenes so I don\u2019t have to delve into the detail.<\/p>\n
I fight with myself constantly to be sure I’m showing, not telling. It’s poor, lazy writing when writers tell instead of show. I think it shows more about the character of the writer, not the character in the story – the amount of telling instead of showing in a novel.<\/p>\n
Telling is heavy handed. It forces your readers to think what you want them to think without any art.<\/p>\n
Showing allows your readers to think for themselves, and apply their own emotions and interpretations.<\/p>\n
But, I\u2019m telling you why showing is better than telling. Allow me to give you an example to “show” what I mean about showing vs. telling.<\/p>\n
Telling: Jasmine was really sad and frustrated.
\nShowing: Hot tears coursed down Jasmine\u2019s cheeks and she slammed her fists down on the table.<\/p>\n
I also like to use dialog to show rather than tell. It\u2019s easier than showing by describing.<\/p>\n
Telling: Emma was skeptical of her friend\u2019s claim.
\nShowing: Emma frowned. \u201cYou really expect me to believe that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Which do you find more engaging? More interesting? Better writing? Do you like it when the writer tells you what to think, or do you like drawing your own conclusions?<\/p>\n
I know which I prefer, which is why I fight with myself so hard to be the writer I like to read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I hate writing action scenes. I’m abysmal at it. I write and re-write my action scenes, and even when I\u2019m done I\u2019m not quite sure I got them right. I\u2019d rather just say \u201cand then they had an epic fight\u201d instead of describing the action, blow by blow. I skim over the action scenes so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[36,1009,1123],"class_list":["post-1577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mechanics","tag-action-scenes","tag-showing","tag-telling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confabulatorcafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}