Here's something that confuses a lot of writers: "show, don't tell" was never a law. It was a suggestion. Somewhere along the way we forgot about nuance and turned a helpful reminder into a commandment carved in stone, and now writers are terrified of a sentence like "She was exhausted." That's a fine sentence, man. When you use AI or even grammar correction tools like ProWritingAid or Grammarly, they want to eliminate passive voice and telling entirely. That's not the answer. Writing is about thinking and feeling, and the whole idea was to stop you from flatly reporting emotion when a moment deserves to be felt. But awhen you treat "always show" as gospel, you get 400 pages where every cup of coffee gets a paragraph of description and nothing actually happens. (Looking at you, epic fantasy) You get vivid description and zero story. Telling is a tool. It compresses time. It let’s you skip the boring parts. It hands the reader information fast so the showing has room to breathe. "Weeks passed in a blur of training" is a gift to your reader. The writers I coach who create great stories aren't the ones who show everything. They're the ones who decide, scene by scene, what deserves the readers full attention and what deserves a sentence. Show what matters. Tell what doesn't. That's the actual rule.

Every Monday there is time for a Q and A with the Plot Dude. If you are a VIP member, or someone who is in the Plot Dude Guide to Story course, this is for you. You can come ask me anything, or we can just talk about the writer's life, and the struggles we all face. Join me, if you can. I'd love to see you there.

We're going to combine writing craft with a little bit of woo-woo in this post. So buckle up! When creating my upcoming course on story analysis, one of the first questions we ask when doing character analysis is: Whose Story is This? Don't mix this up with POV. A Prayer for Owen Meany is definitely Owen's story, but not a single chapter is told from Owen's POV. We are shown his story from someone else's perspective. This allows the author (John Irving) to hide some of what Owen knows. That allows for a surprise ending, a twist that you don't see coming, but that was inevitable. But I digress. We first want to know whose story this is. Who, not what, is this story about. Die Hard is about John McClane, Lethal Weapon is about Martin Riggs (along with his partner, but the first movie at least is Martin's story. Think of your favorite stories. Who are they about? Hunger Games - Katniss. Harry Potter -duh. Go ahead, name a few. Then look at your own stories. Who are they about? Are they told from the POV of that character, or someone else? When you identify whose story this is, whose misbeliefs and struggles are at the core, the plot begins to fall into place. But when it comes to your writing career/journey, it is your story. You are the center. It is, despite what your spouse may say, all about you (at least in this area. Put your dish in the dishwasher for god's sake). So what story do you want to tell? What will your journey look like? Because everything in life is about story. That's it. Everything else is just - well, part of the plot.

I just finished a a couple of key chapters in my historical cozy - it's winding to its conclusion. I can't believe how ecstactic I was, dancing around my office (all by myself), hollering and whooping and pumping my arm! Yes! Filled with the giddy, butterfly-y feeling and marveling at my characters and that they escaped!! I feel like I know them so well, and sometimes (often) they are more real to me than some people I have met!! Am I crazy?? I LOVE spending time with them (which is definitely not enough!), but then everyone thinks I'm either a hermit or such an introvert I simply can't stand to be around people (they do get exhausting after awhile, tho'...). I see the light at the end of this tunnel and am thrilled!

Today I created an Excel doc with all the finished scenes [92] and scenes yet to be written [42]. This after having gutted a huge chunk of the novel and effecting some rewrites. Now I need to make good on the new storyline. The good news is, I've identified the next step--writing those scenes. The bad news is, it's a lot! Some scenes will be short, but I estimate 10-15 will be longish, at least. If it's all right with everyone, I'll update this post periodically with my progress. I need the accountability.