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Show don't tell is every writer's mantra and one of the first stumbling blocks a beginning writer encounters. Come time to revise before writing the next draft, writers with little background in the craft of writing a story with a plot find they've told the story rather than shown the story through scenes. Both writing in summary and in all dialogue, writing from a distance seems easier to manage. Even in first person POV, writers often unwittingly separate from the intimacy of sensuous story moments by narrating or telling the story.

This is fine, in the first draft. More than fine actually. I advise writing your story anyway you can from beginning all the way to end before going back and rewriting. This way you know what happens at the end which directly influences what comes in the beginning.

As you begin to understand how to write a scene, you find yourself overcompensating by following up your scenes with explanatory summaries.

Plot tip: Trust your writing
Plot tip: Trust your reader
Plot tip: Never repeat. Deepen.

You also struggle with issues that come up about the overall presentation of the story.

What POV is best for your story?
Where to put memories?
How to incorporate flashbacks
What is the optimum length your readers will enjoy?
What to put in?
What to leave out?
What are you trying to say; what do all the words add up to?
What will your reader be left with?

These are questions every novelist, writer grapples with when learning the craft of writing a story with a plot.

Today I write!
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For help: Read my Plot Whisperer and Blockbuster Plots books for writers.
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• Looking for tips to prop up your middle with excitement? 
• Wish you understood how to show don't tell what your character is feeling? 
• Are even you sometimes bored with your own story?
• Long to form your concept into words? 

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BLOCKBUSTER 
Begin by knowing who protagonist is at the climax
Locate what your story says about life, the deeper meaning. For PB, the take-away
Open with a character minus the skills, strengths & abilities needed at the climax
Commit to the primary plot of your story
Know who carries the emotional weight of your story, the heart
Break your story into ¼ The Beginning, ½ The Middle, ¼ The End
Use the protagonist’s flaw to interfere with reaching her goal
Start at the end and plot your way backwards
Turn episodic events into scenes with cause and effect Establish protagonist’s flaw in scene #1
Rather than tell the protagonist’s backstory in summary, show what she is unable to do

PLOT 
Plot the territory of the antagonist in the middle as an exotic world to the protagonist
Love 1st ideas & replace with depth more closely tied thematically to the whole
Optimize character development by keeping an eye out for the gift she brings
Take your story from beginning to end before going back and starting again

Today I write.
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PLOT WORKSHOPS and RETREATS

WRITER PATH PLOT and SCENE RETREATS in the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains. May 30 – June 1 Join Jordan Rosenfeld and me deep in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Your story deserves to be told. Your writer’s soul needs to be nourished. Learn to identify and write the key lynch-pin scenes that build a page-turning story, master crucial scene types and go deeper into your plot by applying the three key layers that run through all great fiction: action, emotion and theme. Reserve your spot now for the 1st Annual Writer Path Retreat Spring 2014.

A PATH to PUBLISHING
Pre-orders now available for an entirely new support system based on PlotWriMo for writers ready to Revise Your Novel in a Month.

For more: Read my Plot Whisperer and Blockbuster Plots books for writers.

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