Heh…well, I started my page back in 2021 just before Covid, and I felt like I had to have this catchy handle. I had this plan to start every post with “Hey Bookworms!”
How quickly did that fall away because my adhd could not for the life of me remember to actually start posts with that.
However, by the time I thought about changing it, I was already several thousand followers deep and I felt weird changing it. So, here we are with Hey Bookworms still three years
Show don’t tell is a phrase authors and writers hear constantly. Whether it’s from writing coaches or reviewers, it’s almost always at the forefront of any analysis of writing. What does that phrase even mean though?
Showing your reader involves putting the reader into the situation. The author describes feelings, sounds, sights. The author effectively plays to all of the reader’s senses. When telling is involved, the author will state exactly what is being conveyed.
When the author shows instead of tells, the reader feels what is happening. The reader is able to come to the correct conclusion of the emotion being felt by the character or the idea being portrayed. In the above example, a thriller author is going to have a better chance of creating that eerie setting and feeling with the first description. The second sentence doesn’t give nearly enough of an emotional connection to it to evoke the chills on the reader’s spine.
Take out those feel words. The “heard,” “smelled,” “tasted,” “saw.” The character is happy, sure, but how can the writer describe that? Did she have tears streaming down her face, her stomach aching from laughing so hard? Did her cheeks feel as though they were ready to split in two from grinning? Was there a lightness in her chest that wasn’t there before?
Choose an emotion or a scene and write! Go back and look to see how many of those feeling type words are used and then rewrite those bits.
A fun exercise I like is to select a scene from your favorite movie or show and try to write it out. Convey all the emotions and feelings without just simply stating what they’re experiencing.
Since this is a book blog, we’ll relate this back to my book collection.
But I think my old typewriter is one of my most dear possessions. It holds a special place in my heart because it relates to my love of reading, my job of editing, and my dream of writing.
Over the years, I’ve found solace and comfort between the pages of a book, I’ve found joy in my small editing business, and I’ve rediscovered my creativity in writing.
What is something that’s a little unconventional you hold dear?
I always wanted to be a collector of things when I was younger. I saw people with those little fancy spoons, my relatives collected tea cups, or the little old man down the street with his stamp and coin collection.
I had nothing of the sort, but looking back, I’ve always been a collector of the written word. I feel like the acknowledgement of books as a collection didn’t rise in popularity until recently—especially with the movement of special edition books.
So, I guess I am a collector with a collection of a bunch of paper and ink. Although, that begs the question: what is a collection? Is it just a handful of items in the same category? Are we all collectors of silverware and clothing? Does the group of items have to have some sort of monetary or sentimental value? I mean, looking back, I had two full binders of CDs, is that a collection? Technically, it had a monetary value. But, I digress from my collection that I actually claim.
I love my collection of books, they feel a bit like a hoard of trophies of things I’ve read and loved. Well, it’s also my TBR too—I do, at least, sell the books that I didn’t enjoy so I don’t just continuously add books that didn’t bring me joy.
What do you collect? Are you a book collector that has a penchant for special editions?
Hey Bookworms Editing 