I’m a word count junkie. A lot of writers are, I suppose, as word count determines the length of our books. I’ve always had this embedded belief that the best books are the long ones, those two-inch thick ones. East of Eden. War and Peace. Any Harry Potter novel. But I’m starting to realize that this isn’t always true. Haven’t we all read books (or watched epic-long movies or listened to … [Read more...] about LESS. Is. more (the final commandment)
commandments of writing
Show, Don’t Tell (The Second Commandment)
Show, don't tell ... the second commandment of writing. Though it's probably the commandment that gives writers the biggest headache, it's probably the most rewarding one to obey, as we feel a great satisfaction when we see the results of doing it, as we know how hard we've worked for it. Show, don't tell: Carl was happy with his new school. This is more telling, versus: As Carl … [Read more...] about Show, Don’t Tell (The Second Commandment)
Killing Your Darlings
There are many “commandments” of writing. But probably the three biggest, and most difficult, are: Less is More Show, don’t tell Kill your Darlings None of these are easy. Let's take the first. Less is more. Telling someone who spins words together to use fewer of them is like telling a professor not to use every second of lecture time, or advising a preacher to cut a sermon by 10 … [Read more...] about Killing Your Darlings
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