I've long been annoyed by the fact that the "show don't tell" advice is taken to ridiculous extremes. It's absolutely impossible to write good fiction without doing both. But I do tend to agree with Jill that too much current fiction is a string of "scenes," which, however well-rendered, make for flat, dull, unengaging reading.

As for the mind vs. heart business, that's almost silly, too. If one wanted ONLY intellectual stimulation, he or she would not likely choose fiction. But empathy and emotional connection can't be created without engaging the mind. And the change that takes place in the reader after the experience of a great book, is an intellectual one.

Bottom line: We're never going to be able to reduce good fiction to formulas.

I've just started writing & along with it, reading books on how to write. Some of the "rules" I've read have surprised me. Never have a prologue. Only use 'said' and 'asked' for dialog attributes. Try not to use adverbs.

I find a lot of current fiction to be jarring. Many books have good plot & good characters, but it's like watching a home video, the movement between scenes is jerky, not smooth.

Michael Crichton is an obvious offender, but it's also true of a lot of "thriller" fiction, too. The author structures the novel in a way that seems clearly calculated to facilitate the adaptation to the big screen, because that's where the money is.

I'm not ready to throw out the "show don't tell" mantra, though, because it's possible to be rich and visual without being vapidly cinematic. As far as exposition goes, it only really bothers me when it takes the form of dialog or a conspicuous infodump that disrupts the flow of the story.

My scenes have been greatly improved by working on SDT. I had not thought about the Hollywood connection & that brings up another question. Do you think that if you write your novel more screenplay like, the film product will be closer to the written story? Sometimes I'm amazed at how different films are, but if you are a reader, 9 times out of 10 you will like the book better.

you remind me that there's "knowledge" and then there's knowledge. I've got a doctorate in English. Taught fiction and creative writing for years. Have read Crichton, once, but completely loathe thriller fiction. Most all genre fiction for that matter. And I can't imagine writing a novel "calculated for screen adaptation." But hey, my novels don't sell for squat. Crichton's do.

But it has resulted in a kind of formula that has been overused.

I recently attended a writing workshop, and too many of the things we looked at started out with a dramatic action scene with no set-up as to who the people are and why we should care about them.

I also get very tired of every book being part of a trilogy or longer series. I even generally avoid the ones that have the same detective solving the crime, even though in general I like mysteries. Just have a real aversion to series.

by Dwight V. Swain. The copyright is 1965. I'm a third of the way through & I think he's mentioned SDT once, maybe twice.

I've trudged through many series, always hopeful that they would get better. Now, I read till they don't interest me & don't have any problem not finishing them.

Do keep in mind that popular novels in all genres are quite different from those published in 1965.

One of my problems as a writer is that even though I read all the time, I still tend to want to write things more in line with what I read fifty years ago, so I'm somewhat behind on how I should pace or structure my writing.

One that gets repeated mindlessly.

Here's my take on it:

http://eyeblister.blogspot.com/2007/04/show-dont-tell-and-other-silly-advice.html

Tell: "John was griefstricken."

vs.

Show: "John rocked back and forth, shaking, choking back sobs."

I think that show v tell rule is for newbies who waste too much time telling us that Mary is a mean old woman, rather than showing us her interactions with her neighbors.

As a new writer taking on the challenge of writing my first novel. I hope to strike a balance of showing and telling.


Thanks,

Lilyhoney

not to tell.