Tuesday's Writer's Tip - Show and Tell Check List #MFRWauthor #Books We Love LTD #Becoming Your Own Critique Partner

Last week we talked about the differences between show and tell. Today, I'll give you a check list to use when revising your manuscript.

Dialogue - Tell can sneak in here. One was for tell to become evident is when the characters are telling each other what they both know. Check your dialogue to make sure you've used it to develop your characters, to give needed information or to advance the plot. One is good. Two is great. Three is marvelous.

Narrative - Check to see that you haven't gone on and on, especially when describing people of places. Give the reader enough to whet their appetites and stimulate their imagination. Bring some action and reaction into the narrative passages by showing how the characters feel or react.

Make sure you haven't wimped out on a scene that needs to be shown to have a dramatic effect and to increase the tension.

Make sure your scenes aren't generic. This means scenes that can happen to any characters in any story. Make the scenes character focused to your characters.