Beware of Bad Advice

Writer beware of bad advice. Bad advice is plentiful in the internet.


Show don't tell. The advice is dispensed to writers like a free pen. I particularly hate the terminology itself, which is cute for the sake of cute, and tends to be misleading as well. Show don't tell, IMO, has become a generic cure for an array of ailments. Maybe you have too much distance between narrator and character. Show don't tell. Maybe you spend too much time with transitions and too little with tangible events. Show don't tell. Maybe your writing lacks sensory details. Show don't tell. You see, I rather hate that piece of advice because it's vague as hell. 


On a recent post of a popular writer's website, one writer not so stylistically attempts to explain his take on show and tell. He writes the following:

Take a simple line: “Hank, you are a bastard,” Sam said.

How do I read it? Deadly insult? High praise? A DNA report? There’s nothing in the wording that tells me, but in this inflection and tone are vital for effective delivery. Yes, you could add, “He said, angrily,” but that means I may read it improperly, and then learn how I should have done it. Yes, you could say, “Sam smiled as he said,” but that’s an external, and in any case, leading-tags tend to be an announcement that dialog is about to arrive, and can become annoying.

But suppose, instead, we’ve been in Sam’s actual viewpoint, in real-time, and noticed Hank enter the room. We know how Sam feels about Hank because we’ve felt it, and have watched the emotions develop, for reasons we now share. In that case, we’ll read the line as we believe Sam would, which is a far more satisfying thing than hearing about it second hand from the narrator. 

Pretorios responds: horseshit. You problem with the line above is that it's poorly written dialogue. "You're" is most often spoken instead of "you are" for one (there are exceptions). Why is it the show don't tell advocates can't come up with better examples than this one? Most helpful would be something which is only subtly off, but this one misses the mark completely, as does the writer when he goes on to explain that the dialogue is vague. Sure it's vague and it needs rewritten. Moreover, this writer does not understand the beauty of context. Sam's reaction to this dialogue could, in fact, indicate the manner in which it was dispensed (as could the rest of the conversation).

What amazes me, however, is the writer's logic--or lack thereof. This writer clearly has no confidence in his own ability to write dialogue, and doesn't even realize dialogue is another tool in his arsenal. I'm especially amused by the following:

But suppose, instead, we’ve been in Sam’s actual viewpoint, in real-time, and noticed Hank enter the room. 

Has this writer heard of Elmore Leonard? Earnest Hemingway? Both writers are sensational with dialogue, and NEVER had to close the distance between reader and character to be understood. You want to get in Sam's head just because your dialogue stinks? I think not. All this writers needs to say is, "Your dialogue needs work." Instead, he goes off on a tangent advocating breathe-in-breathe-out writing (I don't know about you, but I hate that sort of thing; as a reader, I can draw from my emotions; as a matter of fact, some level of ambiguity in story telling is a good thing, because it builds tension; If I know how each character feels and exactly, 100% what is happening around them? Boring. That's not creative writing, my friend, and if you think it is, you're better served writing technical documents).

The point is this: the writer throwing around this advice has no idea what the hell he's talking about. He's being dogmatic, talking for the sake of talking not realizing that the less discerning writers may take heed (maybe it's what he wants anyway; as you accumulate experience, though, be careful how you dispense advice to others).


Rebecca Hamilton, when she appeared as a guest blogger, made the following observation:

I think the best advice I can give is to trust yourself. Open your mind to new advice, but trust that the good advice will resonate with you. If someone gives you advice and you think, “ah ha! I see the light!” than you are probably wise to heed their advice. However, if it doesn’t sit right, do your research. The advice may be off, or plain wrong.

Her last comment in particular is important: "The advice may be off, or plain wrong."

And the writer whose sample I cited at the top is just plain wrong.