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| Publishing Questions and answers about the publishing industry, featuring answers from literary agents, publisher writers, and editors. |
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| | #1 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Northumberland
Posts: 160
| The "Ten Commandments according to John" I picked up these "do not do's" from another thread by John Jarrold...seems good advice. My question on number 10, can you bring information in through a character's POV based on what he knows?, his past experiences, people he has met, memories etc?
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| | #4 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Northumberland
Posts: 160
| Re: The "Ten Commandments according to John" Joking aside,I have laminated the ten commandments and put it on the wall in my office with a note...READ EVERYDAY!! Last edited by gary compton; 23rd February 2008 at 02:06 PM. |
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| | #8 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Lincolnshire
Posts: 1,033
| Re: The "Ten Commandments according to John" Every scene should be shown through the eyes and thoughts of a specific character. Not told from an outside viewpoint, where the reader knows the thoughts and motivations of every character in a scene. So the POV character can only intuit what others are thinking, and the reader can only know, in that scene, what the POV character knows. With more than one POV character running through a book, the reader can, of course, know more than any of them know individually, which readers love! George R R Martin does this brilliantly in A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE. Interweaving storylines, each with its own POV character, building into a whole. |
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| | #10 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Lincolnshire
Posts: 1,033
| Re: The "Ten Commandments according to John" It was the year 1529. In the cold, castle room, two men eyed each other across a mighty wooden table. They had known each other since they were children... That's telling. Alaric Morton eyed Guiscard across the table, holding back a shiver from the icy cold. He'd known the Gascon since they were children... That's showing. |
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| | #12 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Lincolnshire
Posts: 1,033
| Re: The "Ten Commandments according to John" As I said, 'Show, don't tell' is on every fiction editor's heart in 2008. Showing involves the reader inside your protagonists' heads, behind their eyes. Telling from outside puts a pane of glass between the reader and the action. Anything that comes to me told I throw back instantly and reject. |
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| | #13 (permalink) |
| KDL Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: UK: ENGLAND:
Posts: 27
| Re: The "Ten Commandments according to John" How far would you take this John, because in theory, it is possible only to show, not tell. Secondly what do you think writers giving hints into the futer :- 'she would not know that until later.' cheers |
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| | #15 (permalink) |
| Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Staffordshire
Posts: 460
| Re: The "Ten Commandments according to John" Gary; you had to post that list didn't you. It's got me breaking out in a cold sweat. (though that could possibly have something to do with my age )I have just started my annual edit of my "epic fantasy". I try each year to apply what I have learned about writing in the previous 12 months to this monster of a story. Not that I ever expect to sell it, ROFL! It is a useful way of charting my progress, (or lack of it) as a writer. ![]() |
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