I’ve read a lot of books and articles on writing.
Some I agree with.
Many I don’t agree at all with.
I constantly hear “Don’t write on the nose dialog!”
But you know what?
People really speak that way.
“How are you?”
“Sleepy. It’s a ‘not enough coffee’ kind of morning,”
How many times have you heard that? Well, all the writing books tell you, don’t write that.
You know what? People talk like that. So USE IT AS A LEAD IN to the confrontation!
Steve followed John to the coffee machine. “You know,” he said, “Upstairs really doesn’t like your proposal.” John poured his coffee, ignoring Steve.”So I’m going to recommend we go with ED 2000 instead.” He said, stepping a foot too close for proper space. John added creamer, sliding one foot out just a touch to get Steve to retreat.”If you think you can sell a Norelco Razor with chicken legs as a mechanized police officer, go right ahead.” John added creamer to the coffee and stirred it. “In the meantime, I’m going ahead with my proposal. They green lighted the RC program an hour ago.”
Show don’t tell. This is another one that gets my goat. Seriously. We’re story tellers, not story showers. Show don’t tell is violated in every novel I’ve ever read.
Did we see cats find their way home in the night in Lord of the Rings, or did Aragorn tell everyone about it?
Show don’t tell is good – at times. I want to see the frost on the window pane, instead of hearing “it was cold”.
But you don’t have to show EVERYTHING.
A Chinese American man raised in Japan described his entire family history in one sentence in the novel “Ninja” – “I am my father’s son.” In that sentence, you see the struggle of a Chinese American caught between his American father and his Chinese mother, and the unrest of his heart from growing up in Japan. If the author had a little more knowledge of his subject matter when he wrote it, he might have shown the protagonist hold his hand like a sword over his heart at some point in the movie, to show where ultimately his loyalties ultimately lay – not to China nor America, but rather to his early life training in a forbidden martial art, and the way of life that accompanies it.
Did we SHOW the protagonists’ loyalty? Or did we instead learn about it through five words of dialog?
Rules for writing are guidelines, not a straight jacket. Structure is required for novels, but ultimately it is the story that prevails.
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Go with that. Write your first four novels by the rules. Once you’re comfortable with them, make the rules adjust to fit your story.
