Writing Tip · 6:59am Apr 27th, 2012
"This story... it's so... so... well-edited!"
So a friend suggested I start doing this. I don't know if it will be a regular thing, I just wanted to pass along some tips that great writers have given to me, and which have helped me improve. If you disagree with anything here, I would love to read about it!
Tip Number One is...
Be brief!
The biggest noob move is to write too much, not too little. Don't over-explain things and don't over-describe things. People already know what a sunset looks like! People already know what a staircase looks like! Give a single descriptive detail-- such as the pony's accent, or the book's red leather cover, or the sticky bar-top. Let your audience imagine the rest for themselves.
This is a big problem for our generation because so much of our media is intensely visual. We come into writing thinking, "I have to describe everything just like it was a movie." Don't do that. Let your audience participate! Trust them to know what stuff looks like. I'm not saying don't describe anything (obviously), but be very careful about using too many adjectives. "The red, glistening, viscous, dripping liquid slid slowly from the glimmering, shiny, razor-sharp blade." <-- This kind of sentence makes people feel TIRED. They don't want to read any more after this, because they are exhausted!
I'll post another one soon. Have a great day, everypony! 
Oohh crap... Wait what happened to show don't tell? I don't get it... more tips please?
I find this relevant to my interests.
The problem I run into is finding the line between descriptive and Purple Prose. Also, I tend to have issues with "Show, Don't Tell", so I compensate by adding flowery language in descriptions.
Any advice on SDT?
How's the master's stuff going?
88404 Took my primary exam today, totally, TOTALLY ran out of time before I finished. Had to slam a really truncated ending on my last two essays, which was pretty sloppy, I hate to say. But I had a lot of the content in there. Hopefully that's good enough.
Tonight I'm going to sleep. That's something I haven't said in a while.
88408
That's good that you've got it down. I hope you did great. You sound like a super smart one.
I'm really curious what you think of this one story I'm focusing on right now, but... I guess I won't bug you. It's My Little Humie: Fanfiction is Social. I'm trying to be meta-parodic as well as confess some things as well as do some Rarity shipping.
Just whenever you could get to it, if that's not too much to ask.
88403 I don't like to talk about "purple prose" or "show-don't-tell" because nobody really knows what those mean, especially the last one. My rule of thumb is: one adjective per noun, and not every noun needs an adjective.
As far as show-don't-tell, basically, I just try to remember to have my characters actions tell the reader everything about everything. I shouldn't be sitting there explaining histories and back-stories and world-building theories about nations and griffons and dragons and what kind of sordid past this pony had with this other pony. If these are things you want your reader to know, have your characters GO THERE and interact with those things. I put this in all-caps because it's just as bad to have your character sitting there explaining histories and back-stories and world-building theories about nations....... That isn't gameplay, that is CUT-SCENE.
hehe, problem i'm expeciencing is that i'm too brief
88416
Debrief him!
In the past, I have had a difficulty with "show don't tell," and each other seems to think it means something different, like you said. What I usually like to do is try to use metaphore and action to "show" what the characters are feeling. But that is the only thing that I can offer.
In any case, nice tip, I shall take it to heart! I would love to see you tackle the topic of emotion in fiction, one of my favorite subjects!
I hope you destroyed that test and got an A!
Take care
One of the things that made the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy so funny was that it was constantly telling instead of showing. So 'show don't tell' doesn't work if you think it should mean 'never give backstory'. Lord of the Rings had some passages like that too.
And I've seen people doing line edits insisting on the removal of all adjectives and adverbs. This is usually harmless but also worthless (except in cases where they were piling up, yeah).
"No, describe their body language instead of their emotions!" ...which will probably confuse about half your readers because people don't consciously pay attention to body language. Pretty much only artists go into the sort of detailed inspection that would let them recognize what emotion you're trying to get across by describing the position of the individual facial features. Just -- no.
I think the original idea was to make sure you actually backed up your characterization with your character's actions. Don't give descriptions of characters' personality traits when you introduce them, especially if you're never going to have them act that way. Or you'll end up with characters like 'generous Rarity' who get mocked for failing to live up to their reputation.
88652 Comedy is definitely more favorable to explaining backstories than drama. Also, Tolkein was a genius. I daresay geniuses can write any damn way they please. This goes for other artists too. Consider Picasso. He didn't HAVE to draw things that way, he just DECIDED to.
This will really help me, THANKS !
Thanks for the tip!