Ah, Come On Baby, Stop Teasing, Show Me, Show Me, Show Me (Show, Don't Tell)

Written by Jeff Colburn


Continued from page 1

Would they smell bad breath or an orange tree in bloom? Would they feelrepparttar baking heat ofrepparttar 129736 Sahara summer, or an ice cube being drawn down their neck? Would they taste their own blood during a fight, or a slice of chocolate cheesecake from a five star restaurant? Would they hearrepparttar 129737 deafening roar of a jet engine just yards away, orrepparttar 129738 soft whisper of their lover's voice in bed next to them? Would they seerepparttar 129739 ghastly carnage of war, orrepparttar 129740 face of their newborn child?

I think you getrepparttar 129741 picture. Don't assume thatrepparttar 129742 reader will, or can, fill inrepparttar 129743 gaps. It's your job to describerepparttar 129744 scene in enough detail so that your reader sees and feels in their mind what you saw and felt in yours, as you wroterepparttar 129745 scene. But be careful not to go overboard on detail. This is whererepparttar 129746 skill of a writer really shows.

So studyrepparttar 129747 world around you,repparttar 129748 magnificent and mundane, and convey this in your writing.

Jeff Colburn is a freelance business writer, and can be reached at his site, The Creative Cauldron (www.CreativeCauldron.com) or JeffColburn@CreativeCauldron.com


Who Said That? (First, Second Or Third Person)

Written by Jeff Colburn


Continued from page 1

With first person you must be very careful to stay in each characters head, and know only what they know. This can be expanded if you jump from one person to another. However, you must be sure thatrepparttar readers knows whose head you're in. It's easy to confuserepparttar 129733 reader, and just a little too much of this will have your reader lost, frustrated and putting your book onrepparttar 129734 shelf forever.

Third person isrepparttar 129735 easiest to use; at least that's what many writers, including myself, think. Third person allows you to know everything. That's why it's also calledrepparttar 129736 omniscient view. You are like a god, and know everything that everyone inrepparttar 129737 story knows, plus everything going on in their universe. If you wantrepparttar 129738 reader to know that Jim is inrepparttar 129739 garden with a gun, you can just say so. You don't need Jim to shoot, or have someone else see Jim. It allows you to paint your story with a much broader brush.

A good writer can, with a lot of work, combine these different views, but it must be done just right and for a reason. I suggest staying with one view throughout a story, just to make things easier on you, andrepparttar 129740 reader.

Find out what voice you like to write in. Do what I did above. Write two or three pages of a story in each person, and see which you enjoyrepparttar 129741 most, and which sounds most natural to you. Which person you choose may even vary from story to story.

So go out and write. Whatever person you choose to write in is up to you, just be sure to write.



Jeff Colburn is a freelance business writer. He can be reached at his site, The Creative Cauldron (www.CreativeCauldron.com), or at JeffColburn@CreativeCauldron.com


    <Back to Page 1
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use