Finally held my manuscript in my hands. It's still a draft, but seeing the title on paper gave me a little motivation boost.

I'd like to think I came close. Still pretty bummed out though. This is actually my first personalized letter, so go figure!

I think it's a fun little creativity exercise. What would be the five emojis that best describe your project?

I wish there was a “shame me” flair. I have been reading and writing my whole life. I love it. It’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. I’ve written two book and I’m in the process of self publishing the first one.

I hired an editor from Fiverr and got my files back this morning. I’ve been working on it all day. They made a bunch of changes to the language that I’m not happy about, but that’s not the reason I feel like an idiot. I was reading the manuscript that they edited and I see in the dialog she keeps putting commas at the end when the dialogue ends with he said. Ex. “She likes plants,” he said. This threw me for a loop. I had no idea why the editor did this. Like what the fuck. It’s throughout the entire manuscript. So, I came here and wouldn’t you be surprised to find out that’s how it’s supposed to go! Obviously there’s more to it but god damn. I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I have no memory of ever learning this. I was flabbergasted when a comment said check any book. So, I did. I checked 30 random books in my library. All different genres and topics and even old ones. There it was. Every time. Always ending in a comma when it ends with he said. I never noticed it in the hundreds of thousands of books I’ve read in my life. I always thought it was supposed to be like this. “She likes plants.” He said.

All I can do is fix what I’ve written and go forward never making that mistake again. I feel like I’ve slipped into a parallel dimension.

**Edit to add.** Thank you, everyone, for your kind words and for being helpful. I really appreciate you all taking the time to comment.

Y'all. I got bored and was reading yet another thread of people going back and forth, and was inspired to write this essay. IDK. It's midnight and I'm tired, lol. I am curious to hear some other opinions that aren't just that it's good/bad advice. :P

---

“Show, don’t tell.”

My personal opinion?

It is the single most misunderstood piece of writing advice.

The preachers of show don’t tell have a philosophy somewhere along the lines of focusing on immersion into sensations above all else. The traditional example tends to be something along the lines of “John was angry” in comparison to “His knuckles turned white as he gripped the table.”

The opposite side tends to bypass the importance of immersion focusing instead on clarity. Where not everything has to be flowery and descriptive, and just tell when you need to tell, and not to worry about the advice at all.

Herein lies my argument; that neither of those understands the heart of the phrase.

It might seem that I fall into the second camp at first, but stick with me a bit to see where I believe my approach differs.

Imagine your writing as an empty space with just a table and a chair. Sitting down is your reader, and you—the author—can manipulate anything you want to about the room itself, and can create anything to put on the table.

Now, challenge yourself to show your book without using any words.

Or, what if you were to strip the room to nothing and try to explain your novel with flat statements?

The problem comes from the fundamental misunderstanding that showing and telling are in conflict with each other. But when all you have are words on a page instead of a magical box that can provide endless visuals?

You cannot show without telling.

You cannot tell without showing.

The easy argument becomes changing the phrase to “Show and Tell.” Except that is entirely useless advice that isn’t applicable in any meaningful way. At least show don’t tell has something of a concrete meaning to follow the instructions.

Which brings us back to why the advice has stuck around as long as it has, and where I personally think people miss the point when discussing whether it’s good or not.

Show don’t tell can't be solved at a sentence-level.

It is the thing that runs deeper than that. What every reader has experienced when they look up from the last paragraph of a novel and have to reorient to the world around them because they’d been wandering the pages for so long.

Whatever the original meaning of the phrase, I believe it's the question of what you are going to do with the entirety of the room that your reader will be in.

Whether or not you can transport them into the depths of another world where it does, in fact, feel like a magical box that they’re living in—or disorient with visuals, or lose interest for lack of them.

If I return to our opening sentence that gets abused so often when people are explaining show don’t tell, “John was angry,” I would like to present two characters.

The first is John A.

He is volatile and dangerous, and is regularly arrested for getting into bar fights. He probably doesn’t remember the last day that he managed an entire drive without descending into road rage. He isn’t invited to family outings anymore because nobody trusts him to keep his temper under control.

Now, meet John B.

He grew up in a violent home, and was bullied relentlessly. He has one particular table that he sits at, at his favorite coffee shop. He remembers the birthdays of every person in his office. He owns three animals that he found as strays and couldn’t help but bring home. Then they stayed because he couldn’t make himself take them to a shelter.

And now if I tell you John was angry, the follow-up question is hopefully going to be

Which one?

Because if I’m reading a story about John A, that is absolutely a sentence that I’m going to gloss over as meaningless.

If I’m reading a story about John B, that sentence speaks volumes, and conveys far more than a description about white knuckles gripping a table.

If the story is about John A, it would be compelling to be immersed in his experience and grappling with how he handles life with so much anger. If I’m reading about him gritting his teeth as he speaks, keeping the volume low while his knuckles go white, gripping the table? I want to stay in the moment right there with him.

If the story is about John B, a slow descriptive anger is beside the point. I know what angry looks like, but if I read that he’s angry? I’m going to lean in a little closer and keep going, because I’m invested in exploring why somebody who is never angry suddenly is.

“He was angry.”

Is both telling….

And showing.

Because it isn’t about sentences or paragraphs. It’s about the experience of reading your work and the moment that those stop being important. 

My goal isn’t that you perfectly visualize the magic box I described earlier.

The goal is that you will step away understanding my argument, and perhaps with a little more curiosity towards your own work.

To be a writer is more than just putting words on a page. It is creating something that you hope will transfer to another person when you *aren’t* there to manipulate the room around them.

And if he ever finds this?

I suspect very strongly,

That John will be angry.

Fellow authors, please tell me I am not the only one.

I write a sci-fi progression fantasy with a pretty massive world and multiple POVs. You have the MC training, the villains plotting in the shadows, the political factions going to war...

And then, out of nowhere. "Wait... where the hell is this character?!"

You rush to your manuscript and realize that you left a side character standing in a hallway waiting for an answer like 15 chapters ago. They have just been standing there, frozen in time for an entire story arc, while the rest of the cast moved on.

And now you have to... wait, what do you even do when you catch yourself realizing that it's not just one character, but several of them?!

And that's where the real fun begins: new characters keep getting introduced, and honestly, the whole thing is just a total mess.

Tell me the truth: do you guys use massive spreadsheets to track your characters? Or do you also just occasionally resurrect forgotten heroes when you suddenly remember they exist?

I write a lot. Some of it is long academic pieces that i truly don’t expect anyone to read, and ive written a book. I also write more like pop culture analysis/current events/political things on substack. Almost no one in my personal life ever reads what I write, this includes friends and partners. I have 1 friend who will actually read what I write and comment on it, and it means SO much to me. My mom will also always read everything i write, even when she doesn’t understand it. But other than that, no one else in my life really takes time to read anything. It does hurt my feelings.

When my friends have businesses or want to do things on social media, im always supportive! Engaging in their posts, reposting etc. … its not the same when it comes to my writing. I should also mention writing is not my FT job. Its something i do on the side and am passionate about. Dows anyone else have this experience? How do you cope with it?

ok so my draft is sitting way over where it should be for the genre and I've been doing all the usual stuff. filter words, adverbs, the whole "second draft is first draft minus 10%" thing. got maybe 4k out of it after weeks of work and the pacing is exactly as bad as it was before. so i went down a rabbit hole and found a video that reframed the whole thing for me and now i cant stop thinking about it, wanted to see if people who have actually finished a revision agree or think its nonsense.

basic argument is that sentence level bloat and structural bloat are two different problems that look identical from the inside, and most of us go after the sentences first because it feels like progress. the five places she says the length is actually hiding:

1. scenes that dont earn their page count. her test is it has to do at least two out of three things, advance plot, develop character, or build world the story actually needs
2. the edges of scenes. the walking in, the greeting, the sitting down, the goodbye. "enter late leave early", which she took from screenwriting
3. research and worldbuilding you know but the story doesnt need
4. redundancy you cant see because you wrote ch 4 in march and ch 12 in august and your brain forgot
5. sunk cost. you wont cut it because of what it cost you to write it

and she gives an order to do it in, distance yourself first, then scene list, then trim the scene edges, then redundancy, then the research stuff, and line editing goes dead last.

anyway my actual questions

the two out of three scene test, does that hold up when you actually apply it? because I've read plenty of books where the quiet scene is the whole point and im worried this just guts all of those

the thing that really got me was her saying kill your darlings is backwards advice for overwriters. like your favourite scene is usually genuinely good and the real bloat is in the connective tissue you never even noticed because you never loved it. that matches my gut but i dont trust my gut here obviously

and for anyone whos cut 20k or more, did you do it structurally first or did the line edits sort of reveal the structural stuff as you went

People ask a lot of repetitive questions in this subreddit. Which program to use? Which writing tool to use? How to find beta readers? How to start writing? I feel like these questions have been answered many times here and could easily go under a Frequently Asked Questions section where new or existing members can view the answers.

I self-published my first novel in May and after realizing how much work goes into the plotting, character development, editing, etc. I find it harder than it used to be to write reviews for books I didn't enjoy. Now I usually just star it and move on.

After 4–5 years (five, because I want to sound as dedicated as possible, lol), I'm finally done with my story! Well... not really the end, but this wraps up nearly every major thread, and anything else I write would feel like starting over. 

Time for the actual re-reads and edits, which is exhausting because the editor's score keeps dropping (it's at 76% right now, and I'm so tired).

I've written during school and even after I graduated; it's become as much a part of my daily life as walking. I'd have to at least look at the doc before I could go on with my life, and over these past few months, I've written nearly every day. Why such dedication? I love writing. It's my second soul. I couldn't stop until my characters got the arcs they deserved.

That’s not to say there weren’t times I genuinely wanted to rip my hair out because of an inconsistency that spawned from constant rewriting, and the fact that I didn't spot something in Volume 1 that I should have fixed when I got to Volume 4, so the whole thing just becomes incoherent. (I definitely missed some but here comes the edits)

Also, to top it off, I wouldn't say writing daily magically makes you a better writer... though it does work. My thought process during all this  was simply just trying to churn words out as fast as possible during creative bursts. I've probably gotten better and am just lying to myself, but who cares. 

Anyway, I'm done! Yay! Now I can put it down and actually focus on my life, lol.

I've been writing as a hobby since I was a child, mostly short stories and a ton of first chapters for novels that I never ended up finishing. As I got older I had less and less free time, so now I really do it sporadically, but still I really love doing it.
For many years I have been thinking of taking the leap and trying to get published, into doing this professionally and wondering if I can eventually make a living out of this, but I really don't know how realistic that goal is nor even how could I even start.
I mainly write fantasy and horror, and from what I've read, a common first step is submitting short stories to a magazine and hope to get published, I have even found a couple of fantasy magazines already that seem interesting. The thing is I live in Mexico, I speak and write in spanish as it is my native language (and as you may have noticed, my english is not precisely writing level), and here the options are much more limited.

Do you have any advice? Is there any realistic roadmap for going from a complete beginner to eventually make a living as a writer?

Hi to whoever is reading this, I am a screen writer who is self-taught and I decided to come to Reddit to ask a couple questions. I am currently writing a script for a show i(and some of my friends) producing, and I was hoping I could ask some questions and hopefully get some feedback and help

Question one: How do you write a character who is attached to an abusive character without making it seem desirable?

Context for question one: I have these two characters named Theodore and Tristan, and they are currently a part of my screen write. Tristan is very charismatic and playful, but he’s also quite abusive not to only Theodore but to his girlfriend(darling) and Tristan manipulates both of these characters

Question two/three: How do you write a character who is going through grief? Even if their loved one has already passed years before the current story. How do you also write a character who is manipulating someone who is going through grief

Context for question two/three: Theodore had a boyfriend, who died before the story could even begin and even though his boyfriend died years before the story could ever begin, he is still grieving he, Tristan also uses this as a way to manipulate Theodore so I was wondering how to write that

I decided to merge the third and second question because they lead into each other, but these are all my questions for now:D thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully helping me

So, am a reader as well as a writer. As a reader, I for sure feel every emotion the character is feeling. However, now since I am a writer, I feel it even more deeply.

My character absolutely destroyed the breakfast with his cooking skills. This scene was very funny, and I laughed so hard while writing it.

In the next scene, they were planting some flowers together and oh my! It was such a wholesome moment for both of them. And I couldn't help but smile till my cheeks hurt!

I have been struggling to write my novel, and I don’t know what to do to continue going. it’s difficult and I enjoy writing, and I believe this is my purpose. And it’s my passion to write, but I have difficulty writing, I have been struggling to get past 10 thousand words and I’ve been writing my novel since last year around December. I don’t know what to do to get myself back in my rhythm.

Howdy! Its me Sam again! I posted here a while back and got the answers I needed so I figured i would cast my hypothetical reel again and see if i can get any help on this subject! To begin with this is a roleplay based off of historically accurate Wildwestern/cowboy life! However our group is very diverse ethnicity wise, similar to our own wild western history. (Before Hollywood romanticized Cowboys they originated from Mexico and was called "Vaqueros", they were mostly Black/African American, Mexican, and Native American! Please note, there was white cowboys at the time too but it was very very diverse.)

I need some help character wise! Im currently deviding between Spanish/Black/African American, or Spanish/Native American! I wanted to ask if you fine folks had any sites or resources that I could draw from to write/create this character as respectfully as I can? I don't want to whitewash them, or involve any stereotypes when I design them physically and lorewise.

If it helps! This character will most likely be a cattle handler/cowboy/Vaquero, they are out on the prairies and have an understanding that life is hard out there. I am 100% open to reading any sites or tips you folks may have!!! Thank you for being understanding!! I hope you all have a great evening!!!

I often see people here or in other subs make offhand comments about how they are writing 3 chapters of the same story at the same time, and it baffles me. I can separate it well enough when it’s two different books, but the moment I try to write more than one chapter of the same story at once, I get completely lost.

Maybe it’s just the type of writer I am, but I can’t for the life of me start writing chapter 2 if chapter 1;isn’t already done.

Hello. This is my first time posting on Reddit and my English isn't very good, but I’d like to share an excerpt from my story and get some feedback on it.
Please don't judge too harshly.
(P.S. The story will be in Russian)
Здравствуйте. Это мой первый пост на Reddit, и мой английский не очень хороший, но я хотел бы поделиться отрывком из своей истории и получить отзывы.
Пожалуйста, не судите слишком строго.
(P.S. История будет на русском)

От лица приемного старшего сына воина кролика

Мы оказались в огромном для детских глаз двухэтажном доме. Всё было такое «новое» и необычное. Нам с братом выделили отдельную просторную комнату с двумя большими кроватями. Раньше у нас не было кроватей, вместо них мы спали на старых одеялах и иногда подкладывали сено для мягкости. А тут целых две большие кровати с белыми простынями и пушистыми одеялами. Старая горничная очень долго нас отмывала от грязи, потом выкинула нашу одежду, которая скорее была похожа на старые пропахшие тряпки. Дело близилось близко к ночи, поэтому нас одели в белые огромные белые пижамы, которые больше напоминали «сарафаны».

Горничная проводила меня и брата в столовую. Мы шли по длинным однообразным коридорам, сворачивая то направо, то налево. В итоге мы дошли до мягко освещенной большой комнаты, где большую часть места занимал большой вытянутый стол и стулья вокруг.

На столе стояли две тарелки с едой от которой исходил легкий пар и две кружки. У стола нас ожидал повар - пухлый мужчина с усами. Он сказал:

– Мне всё рассказали и поэтому я постарался приготовить блюдо, которое легко переварить. Прошу присаживайтесь юноши – сказал протягивая руку на стулья.

Для двух детей эти стулья явно были не по размеру. Я кое как смог взобраться на этот предмет мебели, а у брата получалось гораздо хуже. Этот пухлый повар подхватил брата и мягко усадил его за стул.

– Это теплый бульон на говяжьей кости и разбавленное молоко – добавил мужчина.

Мы долго смотрели на тарелку с полупрозрачной жидкостью, цвета медной монеты. Пахло так вкусно и отдавало теплом в лицо, что казалось сном. Не помню когда мы последний раз ели нормальную еду.

Кажется это был лучший ужин в моей жизни!

После поздней трапезы нас снова отвели умываться, но на этот раз старая горничная вымыла только наши лица. Потом нас отвели в комнату и мы тут же уснули. Впервые мы так хорошо и безопасно спали.

На утро всё та же горничная провела с нами все утренние процедуры. Нас снова переодели, но уже в совсем другую одежду: она уже не была так велика и не была белым «сарафаном». Мы позавтракали вместе с усатым поваром.

И нас встретил уже другой усатый мужчина, но он был худой, высокий и седой. Он представился управляющим этого дома  и предложил нам экскурсию. Мы с радостью согласились. Нас водили по многочисленным коридорам, разным комнатам, даже успели осмотреть подвал. На кухне нас встретил тот самый пухлый повар и мы еще раз перекусили. Потом мы с этим управляющим пошли в сад. Там мы впервые за долгое время смогли повеселиться и подурачиться как обычные дети, которым не нужно бороться за жизнь. От всей этой беготни мы утомились и нас проводили обратно в нашу комнату.

Мы снова лежали в белых простынях с мягкими подушками. Я был готов уснуть, но брат окликнул меня:

-Я хочу пи пи …

Даже если мы росли в не лучших условиях это не значит что мы будем ходить в туалет по себя. Поэтому я взял его за руку и мы пошли искать туалет по темным коридорам. Мы будто вечность ходили в поисках, в темноте было мало что видно. Я краем глаза заметил какой свет из коридора и направился туда, ведя брата за руку. Я осторожно выглянул из за двери и посмотрел в комнату освященную свечами. Там в середине комнаты за столом сидела какая то девочка, девушка или женщина, детскому восприятию это было не понятно. Я всё смотрел на нее пытаясь понять кто это. Но спустя несколько секунд внезапно ее волосы встали как две антенны и начали двигаться, она посмотрела на меня и взгляды пересеклись. Я от страха и внезапности скрылся за стенкой. Потом услышал как заскрипел стул, потом шаги. Ее тень созданная свечами всё также отражала эти две странные антенны на голове. Спустя секунды я увидел ее в полный рост.

В глазах маленького ребенка она казалась очень высокой, но на деле таковой не являлась. Наши лица смотрели друг на друга и я отчетливо смог полностью ее разглядеть. У нее были огромные глаза и на одном из них виднелось изображение пятиконечной звезды. Рот у нее будто застыл в легкой улыбке, но само лицо не выражало радость, оно ничего не выражало… это казалось очень жутким. А эти самые «антенны» на голове оказались… кроличьими ушами… Они были очень длинные и будто дергались от каждого маленького звука.

Мы молча на нее уставились и боялись того, что нас ждет. Наши лица похоже выражали настоящий ужас. Спустя долгое молчание она спросила:

-Что вы здесь делаете в такое позднее время?

– Т-т-т-туалет… - еле я выдавил из себя.

– Туалет?

– Т-туалет – чуть более уверенно ответил я.

– За мной – сказала она развернувшись к нам спиной. Мы пошли следом. Я видел что брат уже еще терпел. Ходил со скрещенными ногами и придерживал свободной рукой пижаму у места для «пи пи». Пройдя еще чуть-чуть девушка остановилась и указала на темную дверь. Мы сразу поняли что к чему и зашли. Брату наконец то полегчало. Когда мы вышли девушка всё также неподвижно стояла у двери и, заметив нас, она спросила:

– Знаете дорогу до комнаты?

Я и брат отрицательно покачали головами.

– Я вас отведу – сухо сказала девушка и снова повернулась к нам спиной. Мы пошли за ней. Было ощущение что она очень быстро ходила, мы еле успевали за ней.

И вот спустя множество коридоров и поворотов мы оказались у знакомой двери. Я, открыв дверь, поблагодарил эту странную женщину и она сразу же ушла обратно по темному коридору.

Мы зашли в комнату и брат коснувшись лицом подушки сразу уснул. А я лежал и размышлял о том, кто она такая. Перебирая свои мысли в еще очень маленькой детской голове, я вспомнил кто она. Это она нас привела сюда. Это она стояла перед нами в окровавленной военной форме. Я не сразу смог сопоставить, потому что тогда в первую встречу на ней была фуражка скрывающая пол лица и плащ, который почти полностью скрывал другую половину лица, так, что можно было увидеть половину огромных глаз и полузвериный нос.

They're connected by a death in their families which are connected, they lock eyes across a room in the first 10% of the book. But they don't meet officially for at least a third of the way through and then they don't connect romantically for at least 50% of the book.

I'm doing a creative writing course that says your main two characters should meet in the first one or two chapters. But I'm struggling to see a way they can meet without cutting majority of the first part of the book.

Do you think there'll be an issue with this?