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That writing teacher who said 'show don't tell' was totally wrong for my story
My creative writing professor in Portland kept hammering 'show don't tell' for every scene, so I rewrote a whole chapter where my character's grief was just her staring at a wilting houseplant for 3 pages. I showed it to a published author friend and she said yeah, sometimes you just need to say 'she was sad' and move on lol. Has anyone else had advice that worked against them?
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bennett.noah9d ago
my character's grief was just her staring at a wilting houseplant for 3 pages" - that's brutal lol. I had a buddy who took that advice too literally and wrote a whole scene where a character's anger was described by how they folded laundry. His editor just crossed it out and wrote "he was pissed" in the margin.
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margaretm239d ago
It's like how every recipe online has a whole life story before you get to the ingredients.
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mark_thomas9d ago
You mentioned the "whole life story" thing, and I actually kind of like those stories. I mean, sure, sometimes you just want the recipe for a quick dinner after work. But half the time I'm browsing for something to cook on the weekend and those little backstories about how someone's grandma used to make it or why they tweaked a certain ingredient, that's the part that makes me want to try it. It's like getting a tip from a buddy who's already messed it up twice and figured out what works, instead of just a cold list of instructions.
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