An interesting writing exercise - "Show, don't tell." taken to the extreme.

So yeah, I'd like to share something that a friend linked me to not long ago. I think it's a really interesting read and is a potentially good exercise/piece of advice for improving your writing that I'm planning on attempting with some bits of my future writing.

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/c..._reddit_what_are_exceptionally_simple/cbfyn4u

I'd also like to share a comment farther down the thread that mirrors my thoughts on it perfectly:

Reddit User Rlight said:

I don't think his message is to abide by these rules as commandments. I think he is trying to convey the idea that people cling to these statements, and they have a tendency to strangle creativity. He suggests leaving them behind for six months in order to make you better. Once you learn to write without them, you'll know how to write with them.

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I think that while sticking to the advice given might not be the best thing to do as a concrete rule for something you really care about the quality of, as a writing exercise it seems very interesting.

I've read this before (and even shared it in our writing resources thread), but I haven't gone as far as doing it. I think it would be incredibly challenging , but worth it in the end. I just don't have the free time right now to go through all my writing and pluck out those words, but it's something I'll definitely keep in mind for the future.

Showing v telling, in my opinion, is the hardest thing about writing stories. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of time, and is so difficult to even get good at. I hate commenting about it when I review because I know I'm bringing a frustrating subject up, but it's something that's necessary if the writer really wants to get better.

Ahh, I hadn't noticed that thread. Sorry for accidentally reposting this then.

And yeah, I don't doubt for a second that it's gonna be difficult to do; most likely I'm going to continue writing stuff like my roleplaying as normal and work on a few pieces of one off writing specifically for practicing this, at least at first.

Manska said:

Ahh, I hadn't noticed that thread. Sorry for accidentally reposting this then.

And yeah, I don't doubt for a second that it's gonna be difficult to do; most likely I'm going to continue writing stuff like my roleplaying as normal and work on a few pieces of one off writing specifically for practicing this, at least at first.

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It's fine, as long is this is kept to a discussion about showing v telling.

I'm definitely going to have to try writing a couple short stories with this in mind, it could help a lot.