Yes, hi, I am still alive somehow and I am sorry for barely updating this tip book :(

Today I will be giving you tips on the show vs tell rule which is a common thing in the writing community. Basically to break it down, this rule is literally what it is called; show verses tell. SvT is when you show something in a story like flashbacks to a hard moment in a character's life verses telling the audience that Minty Oreo's family died in a car accident straight up like so,

"Yeah my parents are dead, it happened twelve years ago and I have severe issues with opening up to people because of it."

That's just not something you should EVER do in literature. Your audience is there to LEARN more and more about your character through subtle hints tossed in here and there throughout the story they're not there to be TOLD any of it. If you wanted to be told the facts straight out at the start you'd read a newspaper not a book.

A mistake so many people make, including me, is that we tell you how a character feels.

"Lance looked down at the gravel he kicked beneath his feet with a slight scowl on his face. He couldn't shake the feeling of concern rising up from the deepest parts of his stomach. He was frightened of what laid ahead of him on his journey he would take with his friends."

I told you blatantly that Lance felt frightened and concerned about what the future held for him hut what I could have done was this;

"Lance looked down at the gravel he kicked beneath his feet with a slight scowl on his face. The bubbling feeling in his stomach made him feel queasy and his hands shook thinking of what laid ahead of him on his journey he would take with his friends."

You can infer that Lance is feeling conflicted, perhaps even worried about what could happen in his future just with a few details but I never flat out told you his emotions. Which was better? Telling or showing?

This was pretty short but this rule is kind of self explanatory, however if there are questions on this rule please feel free to ask in the comments and I'll get to it as soon as I can by replying directly to you :)

If you have requests leave them in the comments and again, sorry for not posting to this book in so long;;;

-Anri