The best writing advice ever: Show, don't tell.

The first draft of my book was not up to par, but I didn't know that. I started querying agents with my first draft and started getting the same feedback: You need to show, not tell. But what the heck did that mean?

I took to my favorite writing group on Facebook (shout out to Supporting Beginner Writers! and the group's moderator, William Nuessle). Surely someone in the group could tell me what this means. Boy did they ever! Apparently this was rookie mistake number one, and doing too much "telling" in your novel would doom it to the rejection pile forever.

Thus began round one of edits: get rid of all the "tells." What this means rather than tell the reader important information, a writer should use the character's experiences and conversations to show all of this to the readers. The members of Supporting Beginner Writers had some great examples, but I wanted more! I consumed a lot of information found on google, then decided to buy this book on Amazon, and it was life-changing! The book was Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It) by Janice Hardy. Folks, I cannot recommend this book enough! I have it with me anytime I am writing. If you are trying to write your own masterpiece, buy this book. No, I will not let you borrow mine! It is, as Gollum would say, my precious!