It depends on the character and the point of view of the story. Some people are extremely open and will tell you outright they have anxiety. Some you have to force it out of them. Others will avoid admitting it all all costs and every other variant in between. Also, it's extremely common for body language to not match thoughts. Body language is a pseudo science for a reason.

A Ted-Ed video about writing vividly made me realize that these examples suggest the antidote for terse literalism is... more literalism. See "she was sad," and "she cried," are so closely related as to be virtually indistinguishable, so it has to be, "she wailed, tears streaming down her reddened face, from weary eyes, crusted and red." certainly nothing over the top about that either. When it could be something like "Her thoughts drifted back to the last Kauai bird, and its haunting call for a mate that would never come. Those were her dreams. A half remembered cry to a lost future. It went not unheard. Life surrounds, and not a single hope for the songbird." I'm not saying it's great or anything, but they give you no impression that you can even do this. It's all "she clinged" this and "her eyes" that.

I know right? I was also so lost, and pantsing was the only thing I knew. Now, it's all organized and I will NEVER go back to pantsing, for I have become OBSESSED with plotting

There's nothing wrong with being a pantser. I can pants the first quarter or so of a book and it'll turn out usable but after that I'll need some kind of road map. People who think plotting is better than pantsing genuinely annoy the hell out of me, don't fall for that, so if you ever end up stuck in an outline, forget it, just write. No one cares how you get your words onto the page as long as those words form a good story.

There’s nothing wrong with being a pantser if you’re truly one, but don’t call yourself a pantser if you’re just disorganized or don’t know what you’re doing.

You're definitely not crazy 😁 I think that just goes to show even a telling paragraph can be effective if you have an interesting premise and strong prose! Rather than being downright bad, the point seems to be that the 'telling' style can make the character sound unnaturally self aware. It can also kill some of the reader's engagement, since you're not leaving them room to use their big brains for interpretation 🧠

i get what you mean. but the showing version is js info dumping. even if you get immersed, it isn't that realistic bc that's not how humans act. and like abbie said, why would orca know all of that anyways. when i read studd like that i js cringe bc they're telling us sm. u want to be as realistic as possible.

@@Lia_michelin143 I agree, so much telling in the introduction paragraph of a narrative with a limited narrator (Orca) doesn't make a lot of sense. But I think there are cases where leaning into a 'telling' style can work, because the narrator is omniscient (something like death narrating The Book Thief). In such a case, having an unrealistic 'voice' can make narrative sense and add an interesting style!

Like many techniques in writing, show don't tell isn't a universal principle. It is a method of focusing on certain parts of the story. It isn't appropriate in every situation. As a writer you would need to understand the pacing of your particular story to know when showing is appropriate and when telling is, and indeed sometimes both of them can work quite well.

​@@Lia_michelin143i info dump in real life all the time😅

That's so cool! I also follow my favorite authors : Hazel clarke and Stephanie Garber

I also follow my favorite author, MAKOTO SHINKAI Read his books and watch his movies, they’ll inspire you very much.

Pam parts ways with Jim and Eve. Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump. The sun's warm, bright rays kisses her skin, the wind stirs her hair, and the world, with all its greens and blues and reds and violets has never appeared so bright. It was as if, at this moment, the colours she had only seen through her eyes finally connected with her heart. She even wants to scream and laugh. But Pam will bottle it all up, every single flutter in her chest, and release it through her pen. With lightened steps, Pam rushes home, rushing up the rickety wooden steps with wild abandon, swinging open the familiar shape of her door. She abandons her bag in a heap at her feet, quickly scooping out her trusty worn notebook and pencil and leans over her desk, barely paying mind to sit down. Scritch, scritch, scritch. The pen moves across the notebook frantically, and the owner, transfixed, does not notice the beads of sweat appearing on her forehead. Her heart, that has never calmed down once, orders her hand to continue moving, faster and faster, for it will never be quick enough to write all she wishes to create. SNAP! A black smudge appears over the half-written word. Pam is forced to come to a stop as the pencil gives way, its lead piece rolling off the table. She reaches over to grab it and dispose it into the garbage before grabbing her pencil sharpener so she can continue writing. However, it is this pause in writing that let thoughts have the chance to slip through the cracks and gaps. As the fragments of pencil chips sprinkle down from the pencil sharpener into the waiting maws of the garbage can below her, Pam suddenly recalls an old memory. ("What are you writing?") It was her mother's voice. How had Pam replied then? Oh yes. ("Just a story.") She had curled protectively over her writing then, covering it up from her mother's eyes. At that time, it was during her early college days, when Pam's mother entered the room to see what Pam was doing. ("Well, you should know that we're not paying your tuition so you can be a writer?") A scowl. That was all it took before trepidation had overtaken Pam's heart. A single dip in the eyebrows, and the down-turning of the lips from her mother. She feared her parent's disproval the most. So Pam had replied, ("I'm not thinking of becoming a writer...just that my professors suggested having an improved writing skill would be beneficial in any career.") It was a lie. A lie that took root in her heart and snuffed out all the hope that her parents would understand, and a denial of her dreams. After that, Pam learned to hide her writing, hide her passion, and bury her writer's soul under a lonely banner. She strove instead to be the perfect daughter, and to pursue the career her parents wanted her to do. Just like now. Pam finishes sharpening her pencil, but as the tip touches the notebook's page, it stills, and Pam is unable to make her imprint. She grips her pencil tightly, as if trying to snap it in half, before loosening her hold, and letting the pencil drop onto the notebook. There, she snaps the notebook shut and pushes it to the corner of her desk. There, she stares at it, her earlier exuberant mood bubbling to nothingness. The table, the flower wallpaper, the notebook, and the pen all return to their former colours. Pam pulls out her laptop, ready to finish her class assignments. Writing would have to wait.

I am pam 😂😂

I think the advice mostly about letting the audience use their imagination by deducing anything at all. So if you say something like "He knew he should have worn more layers. Like seventeen of them." Then the audience will understand that the guy is cold, and he doesn't have to turn ghost white, covered in icicles every time, like a cartoon character.

@@Benji568 is it like gothic fantasy or something

@unicorntomboy9736 I've barely started it. I could go that route but I try to keep it grounded and more like a thriller with a supernatural element. That's all I'm gonna say, don't want to give too much away.

@@Benji568 My current book is gothic fantasy, with some grimdark

@@unicorntomboy9736 Sounds exciting! Good luck with it.

I struggle to write short stories. It is a distinctly different craft from writing a novel or novella

@@unicorntomboy9736 exactly. It is hard to keep it short. My short story just expands while I write😂

That's awesome that you're motivated again! As helpful as I find these videos I seem to get caught up in "it has to be perfect and has to have blah blah blah in it cause Abbie said so" my point being don't watch to many writing videos at one time cause you could get caught up in the technical and forget that your doing this for fun as well What's the plot for the manga?

@@OneLuckyLizard plot is all over the place right now; the character goes through so many different setting changes and tone changes that i'd be here forever trying to explain it lol though with what i'm trying to do with the character is to show how she changes to react to her current situation, at one point actually becoming a worse person than she was before due to the circumstances so i think that might be an interesting thing to work with

@@TheWary0ne-vs3xt Ooo I've wanted to write a story like that for awhile! Let me know how it turns out! Lol

@@OneLuckyLizard lol aight; if i get the whole story out maybe i'll try to remember this comment

@@TheWary0ne-vs3xt lol

You'll probably continue to struggle, honestly. It's a really tough concept.

You're writing fan fiction aren't you?

She doesn’t. At least not in “100 Days of Sunlight”, and with regard to the ages of the characters in her other two books, I wouldn’t expect any intimacy scenes in there either. It doesn’t really seem to fit the target audience she is going for.

True I sometimes use telling for less important sub-plots

The clue to understanding show don't tell is you're always telling a story. The show part is about inference, intrigue, about not being obvious. That's all. "But Papa doesn't know me. Doesn't know what I've done." is very literally not telling because you've underlined a critical piece of information that you have intentionally kept to yourself. It's the opposite of telling, even with all that other stuff tacked on. Because now that line has an elevated signficance, all that other stuff recedes into the background.