I love 'Show, Don’t Tell' because it really brings a novel to life for the reader. It’s something so many writers struggle with, but it can turn a so-so novel into one readers can’t put down. Losing yourself in a story is the sign of great writing, and when a writer can show me what’s in their head and do it in a way that makes me forget I’m reading, well, that’s a book that keeps me turning the pages until it’s done. And that’s my favorite part of reading, writing, and teaching writing.
I wrote...
Understanding Show, Don't Tell: And Really Getting It
I loved how Scalzi put the reader inside the head of his narrator and showed you his world as he saw it. Scalzi uses very little description, but I never felt that I was missing out or that the setting was weak. It was the opposite, really. I got hints and off-hand comments from the narrator that were great hooks to keep me reading, and I kept learning about this world and these characters all the way til the end.
It wasn’t until my second read that I even realized Scalzi did something absolutely brilliant. The “locked in” people of this world use robot bodies in the real world, but also have an online digital world. Scalzi describes the digital world in more detail, showing that Chris sees it as more real than the “real world.”
A blazingly inventive near-future thriller from the best-selling, Hugo Award-winning John Scalzi.
Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.
I’m a huge fan of Crusie and Mayer, because they really bring their characters and worlds to life, and the Liz Danger series is no exception. It’s not easy to mix romance, mystery, and cheesy puns, but they do it in a way that sucks you into the story and makes you laugh as well as gasp. I felt Liz’s struggle and frustration of being back in her hometown, and not wanting to be there for “reasons.”
It's a dual POV novel, so I got to lose myself in Vince’s world, too. I love how this writing team develops their characters by how they see their world, and they each see it in very different ways sometimes. The details and descriptions fit the characters and swept me away in the story—they didn’t bog it down.
From the NY Times Bestselling duo that wrote Agnes and the Hitman, the first book in a new series.
Liz Danger has come home after fifteen years to deliver a giant teddy bear for her mother’s birthday (color: Guilt Red) when a cop with a great ass picks her up for speeding, fixes the missing lug nuts in her back wheel, pulls her out of a ditch, doesn’t give her a ticket, and helps her avoid her family. This is a man with real potential.
Vince Cooper picks up Liz for speeding and his life gets a lot more interesting.…
Grabenstein also writes for kids, and it shows. His books are rich and fun, and this one just put me right in the middle of a quirky seaside tourist town. I could feel the sun on my face and wanted to go on all the rides and eat the food from all the snack vendors. He actually made me hungry on more than one occasion.
He crafted this playful world and overlaid a murder on top of it, using the contrasts of light and dark to show all the sides of this setting, and its citizens. I learned all about John Ceepak, the detective the rookie cop narrator works with, but I never felt like I was getting John’s life story or dossier. It was just Danny sharing his admiration and interest in a partner he wished he could be like. I felt like I knew Danny and that made me care about him even more.
My favorite thing about this book is how Hughes gave me just enough details to make it feel real, but didn’t tell me everything. She referred to the story’s history in a way that felt natural to the protagonist, and didn’t dump a lot of information or explain it all to me. It really gave the world depth, and made it feel like it had an actual history beyond what was just on the pages.
I wanted to know more, and she spoon fed me details and kept me hooked all the way through. It’s a complex world and story, but I never felt lost because her narrator was solidly grounded in that world and made me feel grounded, too.
This book is one of my all-time favorites, because even though I knew it was fiction, it felt like nonfiction as I was reading it. It was that authentic, and that alive. I truly felt like I was reading an actual history book about an event from my own world.
The narrative structure was also amazing, telling the entire story through interviews with survivors of the zombie war, and I was riveted by those stories. They showed me what it was like to face that zombie horror, which made me desperate to know what happened, how they survived, and how they managed. Although I was reading, it felt like I was watching actual people tell their tales.
It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginning of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse.
Faced with a future of mindless man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and key players in the ten-year fight against the horde, World War Z brings the finest traditions of journalism to bear on what is…
With in-depth analysis, my book teaches you how to spot told prose in your writing and discover why common advice on fixing it doesn't always work. It also explores aspects of writing connected to told prose that can make your writing feel told, such as infodumps, description, and backstory.
It's more than just advice on what to do and what not to do—it’s a down-and-dirty examination and analysis of how 'show, don’t tell' works, so you can adapt the “rules” to whatever style or genre you’re writing. By the end of this book, you’ll have a solid understanding of the 'show, don’t tell', and the ability to use it without fear or frustration.
