I’m tempted to be very annoying and keep this post very short.. Very happy with the rest of my AtoZ’s, do I need to write a very long v post?
I’ll leave it at very… and you can add any behaviour, feeling or description to that. Vocal, valuable and vivacious were the ones that came to mind for me.
Show don’t tell.
He was very…
vs
The books in his living room were arranged alphabetically, as were the cd’s.
Lynne’s AtoZ blogging challenge theme in case you couldn’t tell:
Linked to thoughts of emotions and behaviours, my theme is ‘I feel….’. Writers among you will be familiar with the phrase show don’t tell, for others it’s what every novelist tries to do. Authors want to show you the emotion and behaviour without telling you it. Trying to practice showing not telling, I have included an example in each post. I may have got it right, I may not have. Please let me know.
Here’s who else is doing the AtoZblogging challenge.
Recently I had an epiphany about how to show and not tell. I suffered with the telling all through my first novel. I just didn’t get how to do it any other way, as I am a published nonfiction author. Making the switch has been liberating and my work flows much better now. I’m glad you brought up this “very” important topic for writers. I am also in the A to Z challenge at: http://stephanierosebirdstudio.blogspot.com
Thanks Stephanie. It’s something I’ll be forever practicing I think!
Very is such an easy word to use instead of going into all of the details. I know I’ve fallen into the trap of relying on it in the past.
And it never occurred to me that that was what I was doing with this short post.. No details..
Very grateful (not sure the two go, but it’s been a long day) that you kept the post short. The show v. tell looks good, but if you want an opinion that goes beyond that, I’d show the character leaf through, show him/her happy to see the books were in order, maybe with an inner thought (finally, the books are in order, this will take but a minute), or something like that. 🙂
Silvia @
SilviaWrites
Can’t tell you how much I very nearly didn’t even post a v! You’re so right! oops.. my v show’s a tell.. See, that’s why I keep getting this show don’t tell thing confused and why I wanted to practice..
Huge thanks for pointing that out, it explains why I was struggling with this concept and will help me a lot.
Hi Lynne. I think we’re all getting tired now. lol
I’ve noticed that for some reason all the people I’m following (17),are mentioning how difficult the final letters are, or will be, but I’m still quite confident I can deal with them – but that’s today!
If you take the word ‘very’, it is basically an extreme or tendency towards an extreme, I think your picture and short piece work ‘very’ well.
Keep it up … only next week to go.
I’m amazed you’re still commenting on 17. Well done. I’m much more random with my visits and comments. I usually do Q, U, X Y Z early on, so by now they’re all scheduled and I can do a bit of wandering and commenting before it’s over..
Thanks for your comments.
I didn’t realize I relied upon using the word, “very” to describe just about (very nearly?) every. then one day I visited Boy With A Hat and read a comment he made about vowing never to use “very” in anything he wrote! I have since caught myself, and each time I type “very” I erase and try to come up with a more descriptive term. It’s been quite a challenge, but extremely interesting!! Gail
My J was just about overuse of words. This one hadn’t meant to be but I’ll have to check my manuscripts for very!