WIP TKBabyBonus 27.11.18 978 Words

The following was originally posted on my Not A Travel Writer sub-tumblr. As tumblr dies following its ridiculous self-destruction, I have decided to correlate all my previous posts, from several places, here. It makes sense and, crucially, means I own my content. In theory, it also means it cannot be removed by anyone else.

WIP TKBabyBonus 27.11.18 978 Words

This is the scene where the story takes a less-than-happy turn for Flin. I like that. There’s a lot of speech, a lot of talking and telling. I also like that. So often we hear “show! Don’t tell!” which can work, I suppose, but there are times that the best way to get to the pointy end of the tale is to do what humans do, tell the fucking story. If you have a dialogue and something you need the reader to know, this is a good way to do it. As you are using speech, you can make this past thing, this exposition only as reliable as the narrator, as the character telling the story. This means nothing is set in stone, nothing is 100% believable.

It also gives the writer the chance to explore the character, their mannerisms, their speech patterns, what is important to them, what they leave out. As this is a two-way dialogue, it also adds the chance for the other character in the conversation to place their own importance on certain things, ask questions here, not pick up on this or that.

Add in the mushrooms Flin has eaten and suddenly the reader is left wondering what is real, what is simply her tripping…