From the course: Crafting Dynamic Characters

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A new spin on show vs. tell

A new spin on show vs. tell

From the course: Crafting Dynamic Characters

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A new spin on show vs. tell

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- Now, you may have seen the title of this lecture featuring the words show and tell, and been tempted to fast-forward thinking you know all you need to know about showing and telling, but I'm glad you didn't. I want you to hear this, because sometimes it's the advice we take for granted and don't examine critically that can do the most damage to your writing. I hope I have your attention now. Writers are taught a lot of things about how to write and how not to write, but many teachers and methods rely on the same old chestnuts without taking necessary steps to explain why certain things are so important. The advice of show, don't tell, falls into this category for me. And how this advice is given to writers actually sucks. There, I said it. On the whole, I agree with the second half of show, don't tell. Straight up telling about a character is probably one of the worst things you can do as a writer. For example, we…

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