Vent: I spent 5 years writing prompts wrong because I misunderstood 'show don't tell'

I always thought showing meant describing every tiny detail like the carpet fibers or the exact shade of someone's eyes, but a beta reader last month just flat out told me my scenes had no emotional weight. Has anyone else had that moment where you realized you were describing scenery instead of feelings?

3 comments

3 Comments

sean4819d ago

Emotional weight" yeah that clicked for me too. I was doing the same thing.

margaretc4219d ago

Touch grass is my new favorite hobby since realizing I spent more time staring at screens than actual grass in my whole life.

rowanr8819d ago

Jumping in here because you're totally right @sean48, its like we all had the same lightbulb moment at the same time lol. Emotional weight is such a good way to put it, I was literally doing the same thing where I'd just stare at my screen and feel bad for no reason. Honestly thought it was just me being dramatic, but nope, turns out the app or whatever was just making me feel heavy for hours. Now I just close the tab and go touch grass for five minutes, problem solved lmao.