What to Show, Tell, and Omit, Part 1

In a recent writing workshop, a participant said she had difficulty knowing what to tell or show in a story and what to leave out. Writers, both experienced and novice, deal with the same problem.

Here are a few tips I’ve picked up in the thirty years I’ve been calling myself a writer:

Begin a story as late in the plot as possible. Start with the situation, as it is happening, that changes the character’s life. Opening with an action scene is a surefire way to engage the reader. Maybe the action is ambiguous, in order to add suspense or mystery. Or introduce an interesting character that captures the attention of the audience and holds it in a tight grip.

I usually write the first draft without too much concern for voice, focusing on plot,  characterization, and conflict. Later, as I revise, I concentrate on voice. At this point, I change much of the telling parts to showing by adding sensory description and details. If I’ve included a block of backstory, I revise to feed it to the audience, bit by bit. Long chunks of backstory slow the action and often becomes boring to the reader, so tread lightly.

In my next blog, I’ll continue with more tips.

Call for Submissions for Young Writers:

Amazing Kids E-zine. This educational non-profit publishes work of kids between the ages of 5-13 as well as teens up to the age of 17. To learn more visit their submission guidelines here. They publish a wider variety of work than most traditional journals and are interested in non-fiction, fiction, poems, videos, reviews, and more.

Submission guidelines at http://mag.amazing-kids.org/get-involved/write-for-us/

Call for Submissions for Adult Writers:

Chicken Soup for the Soul. “You Go, Girl!” This call is looking for true stories designed to help young women feel stronger, more capable, and more confident. Limit 1,200 words. Payment is $200 and ten copies of the anthology that contains your story. 

Deadline December 15, 2019.

Submissions guidelines at https://www.chickensoup.com/story-submissions/possible-book-topics

Nancy Kelly Allen has written 50+ children’s books and a cookbook, SPIRIT OF KENTUCKY: BOURBON COOKBOOK.

Comment or check out the blog at https://nancykellyallen.blogspot.com/

Creating Scenes

Let’s look at other elements needed in scenes.

Action. The sooner the action, the sooner the reader is drawn into the story. The momentum of action carries the reader forward, turning the pages. Remember to keep the action true to the character. A girl might run away from home, but she is not likely to intentionally place her younger sister in harm. One effective beginning is to start a novel with an action scene without explanation. Jump into the action. Backstory is unnecessary as a novel opening and is best revealed and scenes unfold.

Add conflict, tension, or suspense. I began my children’s novel, Amazing Grace, with two mysteries. As the scenes unfolded, the first mystery was revealed. A few scenes later, I introduced the second mystery. Failure creates conflict, tension, and suspense. Allow your character to fail and fail again. Through failure comes learning, experience, and change—elements needed so the character can grow and succeed. Failure is a motivator. It’s what keeps the character determined to continue the quest. Failure and learning creates an emotional growth for the character, as well.

Consider how each scene takes the character to the goal or solution to the problem, the end result. If the scene doesn't do that, scrap it. Save it for the next book.

Call for Submissions for Young Writers:

Cuckoo Chronicle is a bi-annual online literature journal for young writers aged 15-21. We like innovative, original work by young writers, and aim to both support talent development and showcase high quality work. We accept poetry, short fiction, flash fiction, excerpts from longer fiction (providing they make sense as a stand alone piece) and creative non-fiction (not reviews). We also love to receive audio/ video/ film- so send us your songs, performances and illustartions too. We’re also interested in illustrations too. BE CREATIVE.

We also offer a Cuckoo prize of £50 for the best submission of every issue!

All submissions are read by our Editorial Committee made up of young people, also aged 15-21. They decide what goes into Cuckoo, edit pieces and decide on the editorial direction of Cuckoo Chronicle.

Submission guidelines at http://chronicle.cuckoowriters.com/submit/

Call for Submissions for Adult Writers:

2016 SUNDAY TIMES EFG SHORT STORY AWARD.
Writers from around the world are invited to enter the 2016 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. The winner will receive £30,000 (US$46,500), making this the most valuable prize for a single short story in the world. The prize is for stories up to 6,000 words in length and there is no entry fee. Stories can be either unpublished or published. If published, the work must have first appeared after 1 January 2015. Writers can enter regardless of their nationality or residency but they must have an existing record of publication in creative writing in the UK and Ireland. Deadline September 24, 2015.

Submission guidelines at http://www.booktrust.org.uk/stefg/entry-form

Trimming Excess Words

Today, I’m continuing my series on trimming excess words? Try these tips:

Read books in the same genre in which you’re writing to determine how and where longer descriptions work. Read a book first for the entertainment value. If you enjoyed it, read it again to analyze how long and short descriptions were woven into the story.

Read your work aloud and concentrate on the description. By reading aloud, your mind will be more attuned to awkward phrasing and will hone in on other mistakes, such as excessive use of words.

Avoid information dumping at the beginning of a story. Information dumping is offering too much information about a character or situation in the opening chapter. If you spend three pages telling why the character is upset, the reader will be even more upset. Long exposition slows and sometimes stops the action. Too much detail and backstory are not necessary and will fail to hook the reader.

Find useless words and zap them. Some useless words I am guilty of using are just, even, felt, like, really, seems, thought, very, that and more.

When my tummy turns queezy at the idea of cutting words, I remind myself that it’s not about the words, it’s about the story.

Next week, I’ll look at more ways to put your manuscript on a diet and achieve success.

Call for Submissions for Young Writers:

INSIGHT WRITING CONTEST—Deadline July 31, 2014. Categories are student short story,
general short story, and student poetry. Prizes range from $50 to $250. Winning entries will be published in Insight. You must be age 22 or under to enter the student categories. Short stories are limited to seven pages. Poetry is limited to one page.

Submission guidelines at http://www.insightmagazine.org/contest/rules.asp

Call for Submissions for Adult Writers:

Gotham Writers. It may be apocryphal, but the story goes that Ernest Hemingway won a bet by writing a short story that ran fewer than ten words. One version of the story places the bet at the famed Algonquin “round table.” Whether true or not, there is an actual bet-winning short story attributed to Hemingway:

For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.

You have to admit it’s pretty good. It builds, and there’s a whole world of background and emotion lurking beneath those words.

We would like to make a similar bet with you. Write a great short story in ten words or fewer. (You may use a title, but that goes into the word count.) Submit it to our contest. Entry is free. Winner of the bet gets a free Gotham class.

We did this contest last year, and here’s the winner:

Remnants of beard peppered her sink. He left nothing else.
A. Crossley Spencer
Summerfield, North Carolina

The Details:

·        Submit an original, unpublished 10-word short story.

·        Entries must be submitted online by midnight Eastern Time, May 18, 2015. Only online entries will be accepted.

·        Entry is free. Limit one entry per person.

·        Entry must consist of no more than 10 words. You may use a title but that goes into the word count. Longer entries will be disregarded.

·        Entry must be original and unpublished.

·        Entries will be judged on originality, quality, spelling, and grammar.

·        Gotham will post the winning entry at GothamWriters.com

·        The winner will be notified by June 3, 2015.

Deadline: May 18, 2015.

Submission guidelines at http://www.writingclasses.com/ContestPages/10W.php

Writing a Chapter Book, part 6/Calls for Submissions

      This article is the sixth in the series: Writing a Chapter Book.

Try these tips:

 

Spend time with kids who are the age of the characters and listen to how they speak. Reflect their language in your writing. A rich, lively language with expanded vocabulary makes the storytelling seem real. Action verbs depict a specific image. The boy ran is not as specific as the boy dashed. Dashed indicates a faster pace than ran; thus, more specific. Create an image with words so the reader can better imagine the action. Sensory language—using see, hear, touch, taste, and smell—create vivid scenes that take the reader along on the journey as though s/he is in the midst of the action.

Capture the interest of the reader at the beginning of the story with immediate action, where something important is happening to the main character. Hook the reader by focusing on the protagonist. Begin with a scene that mirrors the overall conflict in some way. If the story involves a ghost, you might choose to open with a scene in which the protagonist sees a ghost or finds something that make the character suspect a ghost is creating havoc. Conflict should be evident from the beginning. Avoid a long build up with backstory that will have readers moaning booooorrrring.  

Call for submissions for young writers:

Parallel Ink is your friendly, neighborhood e-magazine publishing writing by students around the world in grades 6-12*. Aside from super-imaginative sci-fi serials and epic fantasy tales, we welcome poignant poetry, quirky rants/personal essays, discarded love letters, and offbeat text exchanges with open arms (among many other countless gems of literature teenagers write). Anything goes if it's well-written, captivating, and ready for sending out into the world wide web!

Submission guidelines at http://parallel-ink.webs.com/

Call for submissions for adult writers:

MUSE Literary Journal Seeks Poetry and Creative Nonfiction. Send up to 3 poems (all styles welcome) or one piece of creative nonfiction (1500 word maximum) to be considered for Spring 2014 issue. Most recent edition includes work from new and established writers, including BZ Niditch, Donna Hilbert, Allison Whittenberg, Lloyd Aquino, Robert Cooperman, Irving Gaeta, Michael H. Winn, Candace Mayo, and Tina Holden Burroughs. Previously unpublished work only; simultaneous submissions okay if notified upon acceptance elsewhere. Include separate cover letter with full contact information, 5-7 line bio, and SASE. Mail to: MUSE Literary Journal, Riverside City College, 4800 Magnolia Avenue, Riverside, CA, 92506.

Submission deadline: February 15, 2014

 

Check out more contests on my blog: http://nancykellyallen.blogspot.com/