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Imperial Library
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Index
Cover
Title Page
Table of Contents
What You’ll Get From This Book
What Show, Don't Tell Really Means
What Show, Don’t Tell Doesn’t Mean
Do You Always Have to Show?
The Problems With Telling
Problems Readers Face
Problems Writers Face
Why Explanations Feel Told
Exposition and Explaining
Why Telling Happens
Things That Affect Telling
Narrative Distance
Pitfalls of Narrative Distance
Which Narrative Distance Should You Use?
Filtering the Point of View
When Telling is Better Than Showing
Telling to Catch Characters Up
Telling for Dramatic Impact
Telling to Convey Necessary Information
Identifying Told Prose
Telling at the Sentence Level
Telling at the Paragraph Level
The Difference Between Backstory and Infodump
Spotting Told Infodumps
Telling at the Scene Level
Spotting Told Backstory
Telling Yourself What to Show
Common Places to Find Told Prose
Story Setup
Infodumps
Are You Infodumping?
Finding Infodumps
Infodumps in Dialogue
Backstory
Descriptions
Internalization
Fixing Told Prose
Turning Told Prose into Shown Prose Without Messing it up
Use the Right Word for the Job
Revise Red Flag Words
Motivational Tells
Emotional Tells
Overly Self-Aware Characters
Mental Tells
Stage Direction Tells
Descriptive Tells
Passive Tells
Adverbs and Telling
One Last Thought on Red Flag Words
Make Details Come Alive
Consider Who's Looking
Let Your Characters Do the Work
Character Voice: Your "Get Out of Tell Free" Card
Show Your Infodumps
Show Your Backstory
Common Trouble Spots
Showing a Character's Age
Three Ways to Show a Character’s Age
Showing Emotions
Showing Sounds
Showing Tone and Mood
Time to Show!
Appendix
Thanks!
Acknowledgments
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