{"id":3203,"date":"2010-03-10T08:47:53","date_gmt":"2010-03-10T16:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/?p=3203"},"modified":"2010-03-10T09:11:56","modified_gmt":"2010-03-10T17:11:56","slug":"an-aside-ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-by-daniel-abraham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2010\/03\/news\/an-aside-ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-by-daniel-abraham\/","title":{"rendered":"An Aside | Ten Rules for Writing Fiction by Daniel Abraham"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Spurred on by a similar article<\/a> from The Guardian, which collected bits of wisdom from a gaggle of living-legend-status writers, Daniel Abraham, author of The Long Price Quartet<\/em>, <\/p>\n

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“Show, don’t tell” is a beginner’s strategy. Dramatize when it’s time to dramatize, summarize when it’s time to summarize. Knowing the difference is the job description.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Be concrete and specific.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Don’t fear infodumps; telling people what’s going on includes them in on the story. Just don’t make them boring.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Withholding information breeds confusion. Providing information builds tension. (\u201cThe essential fact is to get real suspense you must let the audience have information.” –Alfred Hitchcock)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Gentle emotions are more powerful than violent ones. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Think about how things smell and taste.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Write fast, edit ruthlessly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Trust your readers to be as smart as you are, but don’t assume they can read your mind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Narrators aren’t evil, nor are they sinless. Tell the story in a voice, but not about the voice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Get out of the way. The more I use fiction to show everyone how clever I am, the more I compromise my story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As with any list of ‘rules’, one must always approach them with a grain of salt and take only what is useful to them as a writer. Still, given my penchant for Abraham’s writing, there’s certainly an amount of wisdom to be found in his advice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spurred on by a similar article from The Guardian, which collected bits of wisdom from a gaggle of living-legend-status writers, Daniel Abraham, author of The Long Price Quartet, “Show, don’t tell” is a beginner’s strategy. Dramatize when it’s time to dramatize, summarize when it’s time to summarize. Knowing the difference is the job description. Be… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n