Word by Word

Practical insights for writers from Jessica P Morrell

Really good novels don’t have everything on the page

Written By: Jessica Morrell - Mar• 22•24

Sometimes what you leave out is as important as what you include.

From the archives:

One trick to keep writing tight and vivid is to avoid expositional dialogue. Find advice for achieving this in my archives. (I’ve written a lot here.)

Along those lines, here’s a piece I wrote on Subtlety.

And here’s advice about using characters’ eyes and expressions to add meaning and emotion without shouting at your readers. Luckily,  it’s relatively easy, especially when you pay attention to expressions while you’re consuming dramas and wandering through your days. When you’re reading good fiction, I hope you’re keeping a notebook nearby to jot down bits you’d like to emulate. I regularly jot down facial expressions, emotional reactions to dialogue and events, gestures, body language, potent language, and figurative language.

Keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.