Show, don't tell.
For those of you who don't write yourselves, this only affects you when you put down a story for being boring. For those who write, it's a ground rule. To apply that rule is not as obvious as one could wish, though.
It's not that I have not read countless advice on the topic, even with examples. But it only really hit home when my editor commented 'SDT' on a part I had never been satisfied with to begin with -- I just didn't know how to make it better.
The part in question was to women describing their respective jobs to one another. Like this:
-- long monologue, followed by "And you?" -- long monologue.
When I seemed to be (and, admittedly was) unable to do anything about that, my editor lost her patience (I think:) and suggested breaking that first monologue with a question like "But how do you..."
And suddenly, I saw the light. I rewrote the entire section as a dialogue. And just prayed that she would approve. By the time I was finished, I was getting cross-eyed staring at the part.
She said, "Much more readable, now." /me did a silly dance!
You see: My editor did not tell me, but she showed me how to improve the story. SDT at its best.
Joan
Light night. I'll let you get to reading.
Tamara
- Grey's Anatomy
- Separation by worldwnomirrors (Callie_Arizona).
Legend of the Seeker
- Part 3 of Look After You by simplesetgo (LotS Femslash).
Rizzoli & Isles
- Chapter 8 of Play the Game by e_dog (Rizzoli & Isles LJ).
Warehouse 13
- Aural Sex by winged_mammal (Meet at Gunpoint).
- Let it Snow by Meg Brown aka GunBunnyCentral (Shatterstorm Productions).
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