Author Archives: Eugene Orlando

Make your physical description of characters, objects, buildings, settings, and clothing active. You can do that by using active verbs to replace passive “to be” verbs such as was, were, have, and had. In my unpublished Civil War historical novel, General Samantha Lee: A Tiger’s Heart, (first in a trilogy) there’s a description of a Union captain’s uniform. Here is how I could have described the woman who disguised herself as a Union officer using passive verbs: I strolled to … Read More »

If you have a foreign character who speaks with an accent, capture their sentence patterns, slang, colloquialisms, word substitutions, word omissions, and speech mannerisms. Don’t write every speech sound phonetically. Not only does it obfuscate your dialogue and confuse the reader, but it is extremely difficult to maintain formatting consistency — and what a nightmare to spell check. Try it once, and you’ll never want to try it again—but avoid the “once” and dodge the headaches. Phonetics in Dialect If … Read More »

As a writer, you’re supposed to write scenes like they’re straight out of a movie. Think about the movies you’ve seen. Telephone scenes can be depicted in two ways, but one of those ways only works in the movies. I’m referring to seeing both characters on the screen either in split-screen effect or by cutting back and forth between them. Split screen is an effect I haven’t seen since the 60s. The above method is not acceptable for novel scenes. … Read More »

Allegory Allegory is a story that contains a deeper, hidden meaning. It is different from symbolism (an element in a story that represents something else). Allegory sends a message to the reader by making a comparison. It is the author trying to say something they think is important—the author’s comment on what is allegorized. However, you can’t put your message at the forefront of your writing, or the reader will flee for the exits. They want to be entertained first … Read More »

An economy of words is what fiction/nonfiction writing is about, so—it is one of the main concerns of editing. Get your story across, develop your characters, and describe your settings—with as few words as possible. There is one necessary contradiction, but far more is gained with more words. Showing usually takes more word space than telling—but it is worth it. Showing provides the reader with an experience. Telling reduces the reader to a listener. Script-Tightening Rules You can think of … Read More »

Showing presents evidence to the readers allowing them to live the experiences of the characters and draw their own conclusions. Showing respects the reader’s intelligence to come to their own conclusions. Showing evokes emotions in the reader. Telling dictates conclusions without providing any evidence. The reader must listen to the authority of the writer and take their word for it. Telling assumes that the reader is not smart enough and must be led by the hand step-by-step through the process … Read More »