‘Show, Don’t Tell’ Almost Ruined Me as a Writer

Re:‘Show, Don’t Tell’ Almost Ruined Me as a Writer by mcv on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @04:54AM (#21201327)

I actually prefer "he was nervous". It gets to the point and keeps the story going. There are a lot of books that are unreadable to me because they refuse to get to the point and want me to dig up the point through layers of prose.

I guess I like books that have a point, rather than just spend some time surfing on prose. Both are probably valid experiences, but I have a clear preferences.

I tend to prefer older SF writers like Clarke and Asimov, which were pretty good at getting to the point. With modern writers I tend to prefer their older books from before they learned to bury the point under layers of prose.

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Re:‘Show, Don’t Tell’ Almost Ruined Me as a Writer by AndrewKemendo on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @08:18AM (#21202436)

They're not trying to get to the point, they want to "paint a picture." Fiction authors are creating escape and entertainment just the same as movie and TV writers. So getting to the point is the opposite of what they want to do.

This imo is the thing that distinguishes fiction lovers from everyone else.

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Re:‘Show, Don’t Tell’ Almost Ruined Me as a Writer by mcv on Wednesday October 09, 2019 @08:48AM (#21202641)

I tend to love the plot more than the painted picture. Also, I'm a slow reader, and digging through that kind of prose slows me down a lot, because I keep digging for a point that it's probably trying to get across to me.

This may also be why I prefer writers like Asimov and Clarke: they usually do have an actual idea they're trying to get across, rather than just fill some time with prose.

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