With writing advice, mention whether you simply want to give advice or want to receive comments on how you write advice. (self.writing)

submitted 5 hours ago by mike_m_ekim

With writing advice, mention whether you simply want to give advice or want to receive comments on how you write advice. from r/writing

Writing dialects.

Writing dialects. from r/writing

Writing dialects.

With writing advice, mention whether you simply want to give advice or want to receive comments on how you write advice. (self.writing)

submitted 5 hours ago by mike_m_ekim

You were inspired. You toiled away for countless hours, weaving fragments of plot with bits of character development. A story slowly grew in your mind and then on your laptop. You would have characters that seemed to no longer fill a purpose, when suddenly you had a plot element that needed a character. “That’s it laddie” you nearly shouted, fingers hovering half-curled over your keyboard. Thoughts raced as you felt the pieces fall in place. You imagined the same scenes over and over, making subtle changes with each iteration until they found consistency. “Now I know how they kill the English oppressors. And the old hags from the Highlands have a role to play in the climax. A role in the climax!”

Finally, plot assembled and characters grown, you began editing. The next morning you awoke to bagpipes sounding more melancholy than usual, and in your mind a character’s expression formed. The corners of her wee bonnie mouth pulled down, but also backward as if she were resisting the expression. It’s not exactly as if she wants to hide her sadness; it’s just that she’s with Frenchmen now (the Auld alliance!) and will wait to share her feelings when she’s with good equitable Scotts again.

But what if she was among the enemy? Would she try to force a smile first time, but fail and be mocked for it? Later, lesson learned, she will try the stone faced approach with better luck. In fact, she’ll be so good at it someone will accuse her of being heartless. And that’s good, she’s been unknowingly making tensions worse with the English oppressors, and the misunderstanding will fuel the fires of war. She’s a good lass, that one.

Later in the coffee shop you continue editing and you come upon a realization. You had been telling the reader she was sad, and later telling them that she was trying to hide her sadness. Now, after a bit of editing, you’re describing facial expressions and then describing how people react to her. In other words, you aren’t telling them how she feels and how she’s acting.

“You’re showing” the barista says after clearing her throat, cringing at your kilt. And she’s right.

You leer at her with a look that must surely reflect your newfound wisdom “Of course I’m showin yea. This way you figure out how she’s feeling on your own.”

As she wanders off in confusion you return to your laptop. Your story has to wait. It’s time to turn your newly enhanced writing talents to another job: writing some advice for the internet. With great power comes great responsibility, and it’s time your knowledge be meted. You craft a post somewhere between 2 and 20 paragraphs describing the importance of showing and not telling. Your post complete, you inhale while stretching in your chair. Yes, you’re definitely taller now.

But what did you want to accomplish from your post? Writing anything can be a good exercise. Writing an advice post is a good way to practice writing advice. But did you challenge yourself? Did you try to engage the reader, or inject some personality? You’re posting on a writing forum, so you might as well do something that possible on a writing forum full of people posting and reading advice: ask for comments on your advice. Perhaps not the nature of the advice itself, but how you wrote it.

As you are once again escorted from the coffee shop you see a puzzled young woman. You inquire, and she says she’s meeting friends at ‘Java and Journalists’ but they accidently got directions for ‘Essayists and Expressos’. She ask if you can tell them how to get there.

“I can do better than that” you say with a wise look in your eye. “Follow me. I can show you.”

And, like a Scotsman, you are true to his word.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I’m open to advice or criticism. Also, here’s a bit that I cut out of the middle. This bit of writing took me between 60 and 90 minutes to write (American time) and I didn’t take a lot of time to edit so hopefully it’s as coherent as I think.

Also, here’s a bit that I edited out to help with the flow:

You have reached the next level in your rise to world renowned author. First you overcame your fear of derivative writing. Then you learned to avoid changes between first and third person. You still struggle with passive voice but one day you’ll switch to a better word processor that will find them for you. None of that matters now. What matters is you’ve learned to show and not tell. It’s exactly like you read about on the internet but better, because now it’s real. It’s made you smarter, cleverer, and just a little taller than before.

With writing advice, mention whether you simply want to give advice or want to receive comments on how you write advice. (self.writing)

submitted 5 hours ago by mike_m_ekim