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Show, Don't Tell
Show, don't tell is a technique used in various kinds of texts to allow the reader to experience the story through actions, words, thoughts, senses, and feelings rather than through the author's exposition, summarization, and description. It avoids adjectives describing the author's analysis, but instead describes the scene in such a way that readers can draw their own conclusions. The technique applies equally to nonfiction and all forms of fiction, literature including haiku and Imagism poetry in particular, speech, movie making, and playwriting. The concept is often attributed to Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, reputed to have said "Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." What Chekhov actually said, in a letter to his brother, was "In descriptions of Nature one must seize on small details, grouping them so that when the reader closes his eyes he gets a picture. For instance, you’ll have a moonlit night if you write that on the mill da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Action (fiction)
Action fiction is a literary genre that focuses on stories that involve high-stakes, high-energy, and fast-paced events. This genre includes a wide range of sub-genres, such as spy novels, adventure stories, tales of terror and intrigue ("cloak and dagger") and mysteries. This kind of story utilizes suspense, the tension that is built up when the reader wishes to know how the conflict between the protagonist and antagonist is going to be resolved or what the solution to the puzzle of a thriller is. Genre fiction Action fiction is a form of genre fiction whose subject matter is characterized by emphasis on exciting action sequences. This does not always mean they exclude character development or story-telling. Action fiction is related to other forms of fiction, including action films, action games and analogous media in other formats such as manga and anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death In The Afternoon
''Death in the Afternoon'' is a non-fiction book written by Ernest Hemingway about the ceremony and traditions of Spanish bullfighting, published in 1932. The book provides a look at the history and the Spanish traditions of bullfighting. It also contains a deeper contemplation on the nature of fear and courage. While essentially a guide book, there are three main sections: Hemingway's work, pictures, and a glossary of terms. Contents Hemingway became a bullfighting aficionado after seeing the Pamplona fiesta in the 1920s, which he wrote about in ''The Sun Also Rises''. In ''Death in the Afternoon'', Hemingway explores the metaphysics of bullfighting—the ritualized, almost religious practice—that he considered analogous to the writer's search for meaning and the essence of life. In bullfighting, he found the elemental nature of life and death. Marianne Wiggins has written of ''Death in the Afternoon'': "Read it for the writing, for the way it's told... He'll make you lik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yves Lavandier
Yves Lavandier (born April 2, 1959) is a French film writer and director. Biography Yves Lavandier was born on April 2, 1959. After receiving a degree in civil engineering, he studied film at Columbia University, New York, between 1983 and 1985. Miloš Forman, František Daniel, Stefan Sharff, Brad Dourif, Larry Engel and Melina Jelinek were among his teachers. During these two years, he wrote and directed several shorts including '' Mr. Brown?'', '' The Perverts'' and '' Yes Darling''. He returned to France in 1985, directed another short, '' Le scorpion'', and embarked on a scriptwriting career mainly for television. He is the creator of an English teaching sitcom called '' Cousin William''. In addition to his career as scriptwriter, he began to teach screenwriting throughout Europe and published a treatise on the subject titled '' Writing Drama''. For the occasion he founded his own publishing and production company, Le Clown & l'Enfant. ''Writing Drama'' is now consider ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constructing A Story
''Constructing a Story'' (French: ''Construire un récit'') by filmmaker and script doctor Yves Lavandier ('' Writing Drama''), is a treatise on conceiving and writing stories for the cinema, the theater, television, and comic books, but also for novels, albeit to a lesser degree. The English edition, translated by story consultant Alexis Niki, was published in May 2017 by Le Clown & l’Enfant. Content Upon the re-publication of the French version of '' Writing Drama'' in 2011, Yves Lavandier decided to extract the book’s most useful chapters and to create two stand-alone books: ''Construire un récit'' and ''Evaluer un scénario'' ('' Analyzing a Script''). ''Construire un récit'' grew from 50 pages in the French version of ''Writing Drama'' to 170, and then to 220 for the 2016 edition. ''Constructing a Story'' is a practical handbook on how to write a narrative. Yves Lavandier’s ambition is to help authors who want to tell a story convey their thoughts and their universe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tone (literature)
In literature, the tone of a literary work expresses the writer's attitude toward or feelings about the subject matter and audience. Overview Depending upon the personality of the writer and the effect the writer wants to create, the work can be formal or informal, sober or whimsical, assertive or pleading, straightforward or sly. In determining the attitude, mood, or tone of an author, one could examine the specific diction used. When one writes, images and descriptive phrases can transmit emotions across—guarded optimism, unqualified enthusiasm, objective indifference, resignation, or dissatisfaction. Some other examples of literary tone are: airy, comic, condescending, facetious, funny, heavy, intimate, ironic, light, modest, playful, sad, serious, sinister, solemn, somber, and threatening. Difference from mood Tone and mood are not the same, although they are frequently confused. The mood of a piece of literature is the feeling or atmosphere created by the work, or, said ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pace (narrative)
In literature, pace, or pacing is the speed at which a story is told—not necessarily the speed at which the story takes place. The number of words needed to write about a certain event does not depend upon how much time the event takes to happen; it depends upon how important that moment is to the story. The pace is determined by the length of the scenes, how fast the action moves, and how quickly the reader is provided with information. It is also sometimes dictated by the genre of the story: comedies move faster than dramas; action adventures move faster than suspense. A dragging pace is characteristic of many novels turned down by publishers, and of some that find their way into print but not into the hearts and recommendations of readers. Manuscripts that move too slowly usually discourage readers from reading on. Methods Storytellers have a number of writing tools at their disposal—for example, narration, action, description, and dialogue. When considering how ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both his novel ''Ender's Game'' (1985) and its sequel ''Speaker for the Dead'' (1986). A feature film adaptation of ''Ender's Game'', which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series ''The Tales of Alvin Maker'' (1987–2003). Card's works were influenced by classic literature, popular fantasy, and science fiction; he often uses tropes from genre fiction. His background as a screenwriter has helped Card make his works accessible. Card's early fiction is original but contains graphic violence. His fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scene (drama)
A scene is a dramatic part of a story, at a specific time and place, between specific characters. The term is used in both filmmaking and theatre, with some distinctions between the two. Theatre In drama, a scene is a unit of action, often a subdivision of an act. French scene A "French scene" is a scene in which the beginning and end are marked by a change in the presence of characters onstage, rather than by the lights going up or down or the set being changed.George, Kathleen (1994) ''Playwriting: The First Workshop'', Focal Press, , p. 154 Obligatory scene From the French ''scène à faire'', an obligatory scene is a scene (usually highly charged with emotion) which is anticipated by the audience and provided by an obliging playwright. An example is ''Hamlet'' 3.4, when Hamlet confronts his mother. Film In filmmaking and video production, a scene is generally thought of as a section of a motion picture in a single location and continuous time made up of a serie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narrative
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (genre), thriller, novel, etc.). Narratives can be presented through a sequence of written or spoken words, through still or moving images, or through any combination of these. The word derives from the Latin verb ''narrare'' (to tell), which is derived from the adjective ''gnarus'' (knowing or skilled). Narration (i.e., the process of presenting a narrative) is a rhetorical modes, rhetorical mode of discourse, broadly defined (and paralleling argumentation, description, and exposition (narrative), exposition), is one of four rhetorical modes of discourse. More narrowly defined, it is the fiction-writing mode in which a narrator communicates directly to an audience. The school of literary criticism known as Russian formalism has applied metho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the histori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scene (fiction)
A scene is a dramatic part of a story, at a specific time and place, between specific characters. The term is used in both filmmaking and theatre, with some distinctions between the two. Theatre In drama, a scene is a unit of action, often a subdivision of an Act (drama), act. French scene A "French scene" is a scene in which the beginning and end are marked by a change in the presence of characters onstage, rather than by the lights going up or down or the set being changed.George, Kathleen (1994) ''Playwriting: The First Workshop'', Focal Press, , p. 154 Obligatory scene From the French ''scène à faire'', an obligatory scene is a scene (usually highly charged with emotion) which is anticipated by the audience and provided by an obliging playwright. An example is ''Hamlet'' 3.4, when Hamlet confronts his mother. Film In filmmaking and video production, a scene is generally thought of as a section of a motion picture in a single Filming location, location and conti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fight Club (novel)
''Fight Club'' is a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. It follows the experiences of an unnamed protagonist struggling with insomnia. Inspired by his doctor's exasperated remark that insomnia is not suffering, the protagonist finds relief by impersonating a seriously ill person in several support groups. Then he meets a mysterious man named Tyler Durden and establishes an underground fighting club as radical psychotherapy. In 1999, director David Fincher adapted the novel into a film of the same name, starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. The film acquired a cult following despite underperforming financially. The film's prominence heightened the profile of the novel and that of Palahniuk. The sequel ''Fight Club 2'' was released in comic book form in May 2015. ''Fight Club 3'' was released in comic book form in 2019. Plot ''Fight Club'' centers on an anonymous narrator, who works as a product recall specialist for an unnamed car company. Because of the stress of his job and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
