Don't Tell...

If you're a writer, you've probably heard it near a million times. The most common writing advice you'll ever receive: "Show, Don't Tell." There's a reason this is the advice you will most hear: It's True! Showing and not telling is what separates the great writers, from the okay writers.

Readers want to feel what the character is experiencing. This means that the character needs to come to life... the best way to do this? You guessed it! "Show, don't tell." If you tell something, it gets boring. But if you show something... show how the character is feeling through their actions, through their words, through situations, and interactions with other characters. If your characters come to life, your readers will find themselves attached, and then they will laugh when your character laughs, cry when your character cries, smiles when your character smiles, and get frustrated when your character is frustrated.

Good writing, is making a connection between your reader and your character. Another good way to do this, is to give your character little characteristics that your reader can relate to. The best way to do this: body language. The way your character "shrugs his shoulders," or "stuffs his hands in his pockets," or "shifts between his feet" all in awkward situations can really make the reader relate. You want the reader to think "Oh, I've been there before." So, try and put your character in many realistic situations and feel many common things. Everybody feels awkward at times, everybody feels confident at times, everybody feels out of place at times, or insecure, or like they don't exactly fit in.

If you can get your reader and character to connect, you have put your foot in the writing door. You have taken the first step in becoming a well known writer... you have started along a very promising path. The way you do this: Show, Don't Tell.

This can be very hard to do... especially because when we talk to another person about an event, we just tell them, we don't go into what his face looked like, or how he reacted to certain words, or what exactly we were thinking at time. Mostly it goes like this "Well I was like, 'blah blah blah.' and then he was like 'uh!' and then I totally just walked. I'm so done with this!" This is not good writing... so you really have to separate yourself from real-life communications and think "How can I make the reader feel like they are here, watching, experiencing this situation." Describe the little things, and add the tiny characteristics that bring characters to life.

Most importantly, keep writing; practice makes perfect and you become a better writer with every word.

As always, thanks for reading,
Kya Aliana

For more information on me, my writing, and to read free short stories, please visit my official website: KyaAliana.Weebly.Com