4 ms·

Well yeah "show don't tell" is terrible memoir advice, but memoir isn't fiction, and memoirs about abuse, your own thoughts, or crying a lot are terminally bori

Well yeah "show don't tell" is terrible memoir advice, but memoir isn't fiction, and memoirs about abuse, your own thoughts, or crying a lot are terminally boring (but important). "Show don't tell" is how to write entertaining fiction, which is not to say that you can't write dry non-fiction about weighty subjects. That said, this: > When I was taking a sculpture class in college, I sewed a > kind of wall hanging about secrets I had to keep. I wrote > things on pieces of paper and tucked them into bumps and > layers in the fabric. I sewed pockets shut. is showing. This is not to discourage those authors whose favorite subject is themselves and their feelings. As an avid reader of fiction, however, if you really must write about your inner feelings, I would suggest making it magical realism or using plot devices where your inner thoughts influence real events, and not subjecting the reader to two hundred pages of your thoughts. Make it a therapy session or a deposition if you must. Or gimmicks. _Trainspotting_ is boring life stuff and the dude going on about how life sucks without heroin, but it's written in a Scottish accent, so it's interesting. (And to be clear it also has plenty of showing. A lot of the scenes of the family life of his friends, etc are pretty indicative of their social environment without going "we were all poor and disenfranchised".)

chachachoney 7y ago
>> Or gimmicks. _Trainspotting_ is boring life stuff and the dude going on about how life sucks without heroin, but it's written in a Scottish accent, so it's interesting. If all you got from Trainspotting is that it's 'boring life stuff' save for being written in multiple patios, you probably shouldn't be giving advice to fledgling authors.
- arandr0x 7y ago
  The author of the original article is lamenting that "show don't tell" is making people reluctant to write about the personal traumas of their life, and instead have to write "action-packed" scenes. There are like three action-packed scenes in Trainspotting and they're all well within the lived experience of the average first worlder. It's "boring life stuff" in the sense of being about on the other extreme from a Michael Bay movie. Sometimes people don't talk in precise terms about art they consume. I was using it as an example of a novel about life that has nothing action-y happening and where many scenes don't directly advance the plot, but remains both a page turner and not particularly preachy.
  - chachachoney 7y ago
    Seems like you're reading the word action in a narrow blockbuster hollywood sense, which isn't the context that it's used within the article.

chachachoney 7y ago

>> Or gimmicks. _Trainspotting_ is boring life stuff and the dude going on about how life sucks without heroin, but it's written in a Scottish accent, so it's interesting. If all you got from Trainspotting is that it's 'boring life stuff' save for being written in multiple patios, you probably shouldn't be giving advice to fledgling authors.

arandr0x 7y ago
The author of the original article is lamenting that "show don't tell" is making people reluctant to write about the personal traumas of their life, and instead have to write "action-packed" scenes. There are like three action-packed scenes in Trainspotting and they're all well within the lived experience of the average first worlder. It's "boring life stuff" in the sense of being about on the other extreme from a Michael Bay movie. Sometimes people don't talk in precise terms about art they consume. I was using it as an example of a novel about life that has nothing action-y happening and where many scenes don't directly advance the plot, but remains both a page turner and not particularly preachy.
- chachachoney 7y ago
  Seems like you're reading the word action in a narrow blockbuster hollywood sense, which isn't the context that it's used within the article.