I honestly never noticed this Dresden Vision issue. The books are very pulpy and borrow a lot from well- worn pulp genre conventions. I took Dresden's horniness to be in line with the crumgeonly PI all the dames fall for trope. Especially because Dresden sees himself that way; most of the novels being told from his POV. Dresden consistently behaves as a guy who wishes he was in a movie directed by Howard Hawks. Characters do call Dresden out for being weirdly antiquated in his behavior. This is a character that wears a trenchcoat, carries a revolver, and drives a car 3 decades too old. All because he thinks it makes him look cool. Even his much older grandfather calls Dresden out for behaving like a caricature.

Do you have to outline first to start up the protodraft?

"But and therefore" has helped back me out of corners. Rather than forcing an idea, I use that conflict to progress more naturally.

Hey, Carson. Thanks for all your helpful videos. I’m trying to find writer friends and decided to try the Discord you mentioned, but I can’t find a link on YT or your website. Can you direct me? Thanks.

Literally just discovered this on my own, but had no name for it. “Protodraft”. I like it. I just made a deal with myself to do “at least one page of shitty writing a day”. Most days, I find myself doing more… but without the pressure of “having to be good”, and then I just edit on the next draft. And if I only have the energy for one page? Guess what… I still did “one page”; I’m still moving forward…

This is very relevant to my situation. I am not good at structure. I have ordered a copy of "Save the cat writes a novel. I would join your discord but I could never get the discord to work.

Ive published three novellas in three months. Drafting number four

The people in my circle wanna know the 4ONE1 on Nano since the recent drama and resignations.

Last

what do you mean how wizards operate? isn't Dresden the only wizard in the phone book? :) FOMOR - fear of missing out revisited

About this much.

Ahhh, North Face Gear. We have North Face Sleeping Bags. They are almost fifty years old. My wife traded Jewelry she made of semi-precious gems. A trade with a Quality Control Manager for two sleeping bags. The sleeping bags had the wrong color thread. Management let him take rejects and give them to Charities and the Homeless. Or trade for anything except Money. Today imagine that type of Quality. That quality no longer exists because all clothing is made overseas. I miss those days when quality mattered. Just like Writing. Quality Matters.

I'm 100% here for you clickbait title! Ha! And you are also 100% right. That being said, all writing "rules" need additional context. And a writer, of skilled enough can break or abuse all of them. :) I did just read a book too review from a new self-published author. And it is 100% telling. Not even a mere 90% telling, but 100%. I question if maybe the author is on the spectrum? Maybe? Not sure, but it made for s very awkward and bizarre read. I'm not certain how I can give feedback without crushing them. Anyway … Show, didn't tell, folks! Unless it makes sense to do so. ;)

Just bought it! (In case you see that someone returned your ebook- it wasn’t a return it was just my own mistake! I bought it from the wrong account, had to refund and repurchase from my personal account.) I can’t wait to read it, go dogs!

Ive had this idea for a while for an elemental powers based series and the way Ive gone around with giving names out is thinking of a word tied to an element. Fire, as an example, the first word I thought of was burn. So, I picked the name Reuben. I was terrified of naming characters because it never felt like real to me, but this naming scheme has been quite helpful at least in regards to first names. Last names I havent thought of any. Hopefully you dont tear this method apart in the video hahaha. Edit: Eh, kind of but not really? You've given me tons more to consider though!

I got sick of overthinking names, so I just googled random name and committed to whatever it was.

After your video on proto drafting I decided to write my proto draft all the way through (I have a million partial drafts). I'm currently stuck on the reaction after the midpoint. I'm fatigued! I feel like there's no way to continue on and I have to rework the whole plot! But rather than continue to plan and redraft and replot the entire thing (as usual), I'm going to read a few of my favorite books from the midpoint to see how they naturally flow into what goes on next and try to just capture that general seamless flow. My head hurts.

this dude has some itch on his left hand, and he scratch that spot twice. I wonder if that a subtext he want me to catch my eyes on🤔

Thank you! It has been driving me mental how this obsession has taken over KZbin. Ludicrous.

I'm a bit of a fan of the "Aerith and Bob" trope.

In my opinion "show don't tell" has NO real meaning. This is why people disagree about it. (It has long been my belief that when there are many different definitions of a thing, then most likely * it is not a thing * ). And no - I do not agree that it is a rule for beginners. Frankly, I suspect it's a cop-out on your part - it's so entrenched you just do not dare to condemn it altogether ;) Because I can give examples where the "rule" is actually *detrimental* for a beginner. For instance, one version of "show don't tell" is "write scenes, not summaries". However, a beginner's problem is often *too many* scenes (journeys, for instance), because we are not yet certain what may be safely left out. Scenes are for the important stuff, where you want to look at things closely; summaries connect these parts, and carry you swiftly across less important terrain. Both are necessary, and people should learn HOW to use them, instead of being told that one approach is better than the other.

So what you’re saying is that the Netflix avatar writers are babies. Got it

In my opinion, the best way to write romance.It's to blue ball your audience. And a greater example of that is korean romance drama or romance manga. The whole will they won't they writing style is the most interesting one. Because it keeps the reader entertained.

I love the video

Well get off KZbin

This is so refreshing and positive Comparedto so much of the jaded hipster advice out there.

“Don’t tell them it’s raining; make them feel the storm.”

Nice analysis. I don't know if this is of interest, it's from my forthcoming novel. Our hero John is on an alien world with an alien woman; they are at a mountain lookout at the edge of a forest. The story is from John's perspective. The following takes place: ------- She stood up and turned round to look at the forest. He reflexively did likewise, and she again took his hand in hers. “Look John, how beautiful it is: wild, alive, riotous with green and-look-so many colours of tiny, unassuming forest flowers: in the shade, or peeking out from under a leaf, delicate little things you could so easily overlook-and yet it is rough, unconquered-so different from the neat way of the lowlands. Just these few scarecs away from our highway, how it all changes!” She breathed deeply, seeming to inhale the very essence of the place she so loved. John found himself doing likewise, for the first time consciously sensing the kaleidoscope of mossy, woody, fruity, flowery fragrances; he fancied he detected hints of pine forest, cedar, orange and peach blossom, and more, separately and together giving rise to a fine, exhilarating freshness. When he was here before, he was preoccupied with his troubles, but now he saw it with fresh eyes. Her love for this wilderness was infectious. -------- Okay, is it showing or telling? It is telling us the forest in her dialogue. The forest features in what follows, but the real outcome is to show us her character by showing us her love for her planet. I wasn't smart enough to plan this in advance. But I always 'become' each character, adopt their feelings and intentions, and then just write what comes naturally in that mindset. I ignore the needs of the plot. If it does off track, I find some other way to get it back in line; but always put the character first, and never 'put words in their mouths'. Cheers, Ron House

If you haven't gone to Discord for a while you'll have a difficult time "verifying" account. I gave up.

I have always interpreted the phrase simply as "don't write explanations, but actions". Don't say "he was sad", show him crying. Don't info dump about the dragons, let us see one. I don't think the advice is for babies. I think babies may not take it in the right way.

To me the one big thing I hate about "show don't tell" is that so many seem to be so obsessed with blindly parroting this phrase like a doll or a robot with a pull string up its butt.

Damn that dog gonna make me buy that book

What I think is a very good example of show don't tell is having characters or the prose tell the reader that a character has a certain trait vs showing the character displaying that trait. You could do both, but if you're only going to pick one, telling is not the one to choose, because saying "X is brave" is meaningless if they never act like it. Show don't tell is one of those pieces of writing advice that I feel like isn't useful at all when you just say it without any context or anything. It's great in the right time and place, but just standing in front of a crowd and saying it like it means something isn't. It originates from screenwriting advice, and like most advice that people take from screenwriting and try to apply to novel writing, it gets complicated. There are times when you need to show, and there are times when you need to tell, and "show don't tell" is most useful when left as a note on something specific.

“Show not tell” is to writers what “breathe from the diaphragm” is to singers.

15:01 describes the concept of enemies to lovers so well.

1:43, pithy phrases that don’t really mean anything but sound like they should like “write what you know” or “kill your darlings”

One of the problems with "show, don't tell" is it's a simplified version of what the full advice should have been: "Don't tell what you can show or should show."

every single piece of advice or writing rules need a 1000 page errata. anyone who takes any writing advice at face value has literally never written a sentence in their lives.

Im not English speaking writer if that is even significant. Show don’t tell is from my point of view a principle that applies to emotional state of the characters. You don’t tell the reader how he feels you show it through his actions and gestures or thoughts. For example-You don’t just say that character felt anxious you give character some thoughts or body movement from which reader can conclude that he is feeling anxious.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaah !!!!! 😭

Every example of 'show, don't tell' I have seen reduced clarity and was horrendously over-written, somewhat like a clumsy imitation of Thomas Hardy or Henry James. 'Disguise the infodump' is a far more useful perspective.

And here I was, under the impression that "show don't tell" was writing advice for theatre and screen writers. Actors are supposed to SHOW rather than tell "oh I feel so sad". Books are an awesome medium because we can squeeze our main characters for every single last private thought. Why TF would I want my character blink a tear away when I could have them agonise over something for a hundred pages straight? The only way "show, don't tell" is allowed to enter actual writing, is the way Hemmingway interpreted it. What did he say again? Write a tragedy in a single sentence? "For sale, Baby shoes, Never worn." But then again - we writers are here to turn such sentence into an actual story.

I find the rule to be nonsense. I LIKE infodumps. I like to know details. I LIKE the inner dialog of characters in Dune. For instance, I don't care about characters, their motivations, or any action that could be taking place at the start of a book, UNTIL I find the world interesting. What makes THIS world or setting different enough from the real world for me to invest time into reading about the events taking place within it. I'm also a person who finds it difficult to interpret the subtext of actions compared to what they say. I am MUCH more comfortable having the subtext TOLD to me, rather than relying on me figuring it out, and getting it wrong. For instance, describing a person "jumping over a fence and clicking their heels together with a big smile on their face"... compared to "this was the happiest day of their life"... do not convey the same meaning to me. I'd much rather be told in that instance. Also, showing, rather than telling, can really slow the pace of a scene down. This is very frustrating during conversations, fights, and any time there SHOULD be a sense of urgency or quick movement. People experience scenes at the speed they're reading the events unfold. If you're showing every detail, they'll be moving in slow motion.

Show don't tell should never be discarded, perhaps only by people who doesn't understand the meaning of it. That rule has never hindered me because I know the purpose of it and that it doesn't make sense to show in 100% of the text. A conversation should still be realistic between two people and a lot of times people do tell each other things instead of showing. That is common knowledge, and if you put "show don't tell" above common knowledge and common sense, than that's the writers problem and not the rule itself.

Don't tell me there's a gun hanging on the wall, Show me an entire scene from the gun's POV while it dresses itself down in the mirror. That's what Chekhov and his broad shoulders would do. Otherwise I just won't believe that it's really a gun when it goes off in act 3. I usually see "show don't tell" as "add more detail". That's generally how the advice has been presented to me in the past. The problem is, most of the time that detail isn't important. Having a man clench his fists is one thing, but the lavender in the window-box doesn't need an entire paragraph of description (sorry, reddit). I find most extreme showing to be filler, as a way to boost wordcount that often turns into garbage. I've read (traditionally published) sci-fi books that open with 10 pages of showing, and none of it is enjoyable to sit through. Please spend pages and pages of a character describing how the aliens are giant frogs without using the very human method of going "he looked like a giant frog, complete with the vocal sac puffing up around his throat." Some people would call that "telling exposition", but in my mind it's driven by the author trying to show, rather than tell. Using it to convey subtext feels legitimate, it just isn't how the advice is presented 99% of the time IMO. I think most authors when confronted with generic critique like "Don't tell me there's a tree, show it to me." would default to "leaves rustling in the wind, woodpecker marks in the bark," rather than something that conveys story like "the unfinished tree house with the rotting rope ladder."

Well said! Great breakdown. I’ve always said it’s about finding a balance; knowing when to show and when to tell, and being intentional with the effect it might have on the audience’s experience.

Thank you !!

I am a beginner so I may not know better. I'm editing my first manuscript right now looking specifically for instances I am too explicit. I don't view it as a rule but rather an addage. As a reader I never like to be told...that innate reaction wasn't taught. I don't mind interpretation ambiguity... Its part of the dance

I see 'Show' and 'Tell' as writing tools, that both makes a great story, I just need to learn how to use these tools effectively. For me, too much telling, or too much showing could make a daunting and unpleasant reading experience. Also, I don't see anything wrong with exposition or info. dump, because I could read a book and can't tell what the story was really about or understand what was going on, however, a little exposition, could really make me appreciate that story better. Maybe the problem arises when it's done too much. And it might be matter of how often it is used.