Showing verses telling is a common topic in writing circles, especially among new writers. It can get kind of confusing after awhile because there are soooo many thoughts on how to show and not tell, variations on definitions, etc. It’s crazy. Will you do some telling? Yes! If you write, “His brown hair curled over his forehead,” that’s “telling.” You just told me what his hair was doing. Telling in the arena of doing, action, (she walked across the room) description is… wait for it… PROSE. Books are compiled for prose and dialog. So yes, describe things, tell the reader things, except… For how the characters are feeling. SHOW me emotion. SHOW me action that applied to the emotion. SHOW me the heroine or heros actions. Imagine you’re sitting in […]
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MBT Interview: Thomas Nelson Senior Editor, Ami McConnell
I’ve been privileged to work with some wonderful editors in the CBA. For the past four years, I’ve been under the tutelage of Thomas Nelson’s Senior Acquisitions Editor, Ami McConnell. She’s such a gift to me as a writer and story teller, helping me hone my skill and art, but by being my champion. When I sold my first 2 books to TNI, the ACFW Conference was in Nashville that year, home of country music and Thomas Nelson. The conference hotel was right across from the fiction (then West Bow) offices! Ami had just given birth to her third child, a beautiful girl. Even though she was on maternity leave, she took time to meet with me, picking me up from the hotel, driving me to coffee, and spending a […]
Read the RestFrom the Inside….Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!
I’m so excited to announce that….I wrote a writing book!! I’ve been wanting to do this for a few years now, a response to so many of the basic, but essential questions that participants in my beginning writer’s workshops ask. How you do you plot? How you develop characters? How you do you pitch a book? What goes into a scene? How do I craft a black moment? And can you help me do it? Yes! And, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming! I believe that writing a book doesn’t have to be agonizing, that it can come from your heart, and still be put inside a framework of proven storytelling. And this book, my method of looking inside for your plot and characters, teaches you how. Here’s a little […]
Read the RestA little background on the Talk Show Host and the Teacher
So, maybe it would help you know which way to vote if you knew who you were vote for. Here’s a bit of Background on our characters, using the simple WHO method for developing all the key pieces: Talk Show Host Who is she? She’s a foster child with a fractured past, always inventing herself. Always tried to be all things to all people. She never wants attention for herself, so she’s good at stepping outside herself, and highlights other people. She doesn’t know who she is, so it’s hard to be true to herself. She is only confident as an interviewer and celebrity. She has the way of getting the true story out of people. Exposing the lies. Combo of Geraldo and Oprah. But she really doesn’t know who […]
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