More Powerful In His Death
Photo credit: PopOptic.com
Ratatouille‘s Gusteau, though dead, still towers over the movie. Arguably, he’s a more powerful figure than he might have been had the moviemakers kept their original plan of keeping him alive. Warning: thematic spoilers. Continue reading
A Case Study in Voice
Image credit: Disney.wikia
Our dashing, masked hero karate-chops in the door and strikes a pose. “Aha! Launchpad, we’ve got them now. You head to the roof to cover their retreat!” Continue reading
It’s Not What’s Said, But What’s Not Said
Image credit: es.Valve.wiki.com
There are different ways of “telling” someone something, and there are different ways of “showing” someone something. Don’t think that just because video games are largely visual experiences – rather than text – doesn’t mean they’re not “telling” (or, violently shoving information on the audience). Continue reading
How It’s Done
Photo credit: PC.gamespy.com
“Show, don’t tell.” We’ve all heard it. But applying it is something else, especially when there are different ways of showing and different ways of telling. I’d like to focus on one example of some first-rate “experience-giving” vs. “info-dumping”: Half-life 2. Continue reading
Harder To Spot Than You’d Think
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
I’m not sure of its official name in the circles of writing craft coaches, but you might recognize it as “As you know, Bob”-syndrome. Essentially, editors and readers frown on writers feeding necessary (or unnecessary) backstory and world dynamics to the audience via dialogue between characters who already know what they’re talking about. Continue reading
No Such Thing As Iocane Powder
I’m a quiet kind of person, but I have a peculiar hobby. That’s why I got the Book of Poisons. No, no, I write novels. Honest.
Especially useful for mystery writers, Book of Poisons details hundreds of toxins for causing havoc and death (to fictional characters, of course). Continue reading
One of the most useful writing aides I have found along my journey has been The Emotion Thesaurus. In the constant quest to show readers our characters’ actions and let them deduce the underlying emotions and thoughts for themselves, The Emotion Thesaurus provides engrossing lists of physical tics, physiological sensations, and other characteristics that can be used to display a character’s internal state without reusing the same ones again and again. Continue reading
Of the writing of books there is no end, and of advice on writing there is (seemingly) no end. Finding the heart of your story is not a new quest, and yet Jordan Smith has crafted a new angle on the subject, and delivered it in such sparkling, quick-footed prose that his book is well worth the price of admission. Continue reading
Every writer on the planet is probably familiar with this adage of writing advice: “Show don’t tell.” The phrase boils down to the fact that people will find something much more compelling if they see it with their own eyes, as opposed to just being handed it as a fact. Would you rather go to Paris, or read the encyclopedia article about its history? (Airline fees and Muslim rioters notwithstanding.)
