#WritersCoffeeClub 9/2: Do you subscribe to ‘show, don’t tell’? Why, or why not?

It's all telling, in the end. But it's usually more interesting to tell through actions or dialogue than through wall-of-text. Stories are more popular than essays for a reason.

#WritersCoffeeClub 9/2: Do you subscribe to ‘show, don’t tell’? Why, or why not?

It's all telling, in the end. But it's usually more interesting to tell through actions or dialogue than through wall-of-text. Stories are more popular than essays for a reason.

#WritersCoffeeClub 8: How imperfect is your pacing? Do you consider imperfection a sign of your humanity?

No pacing is perfect. Perfect in creative works is subjective. Some readers prefer a generally slower pace and to dwell in the moment. Other readers prefer to always be running to the next exciting thing. All readers prefer a mix of the two.

I'm pretty happy with my pacing.

Alas, imperfection isn't actually a sign of humanity--as we've seen, LLMs are pretty fucking imperfect.

#WritersCoffeeClub 9: Do you subscribe to ‘show, don’t tell’? Why, or why not?

'Show, don't tell' is advice for early writers, because most early writers start by listing events/actions in order. That advice is very useful if you haven't yet learned to zoom in.

For anyone past that stage, I don't consider it that useful. You need a mix of both, and the right balance of that mix will vary between scenes, stories, and writers.

#WritersCoffeeClub 9Feb—Do you subscribe to 'show, don't tell'? Why or why not?

I subscribe to whatever's needed to tell the story.

I know that's trite. I could go into more about how I find balance between the two, or how it takes practice to find a style that works for you, or how opinions masked as advice can be seen as gatekeeping for newer writers, but I won't.

Do whatever's necessary to tell your story. It's a simple as that.

Writers’ Coffee Club for 9th February 2026

9. Do you subscribe to ‘show, don’t tell’? Why, or why not?

No. Use whatever tools you have in your writing toolbox. The skill is in knowing when and how to use those tools, not whether to use them at all.
#WritersCoffeeClub

#WritersCoffeeClub 9Feb—Do you subscribe to 'show, don't tell'? Why or why not?

I subscribe to whatever's needed to tell the story.

I know that's trite. I could go into more about how I find balance between the two, or how it takes practice to find a style that works for you, or how opinions masked as advice can be seen as gatekeeping for newer writers, but I won't.

Do whatever's necessary to tell your story. It's a simple as that.

#WritersCoffeeClub 10: How do you steer a reader’s emotional journey?

I mean, I sort of...don't? Or at least, that's not what I'm thinking when I'm writing. I'm following the story's emotional journey, the character's emotional journey. I'm feeling out the scenes and the beats for when it's time for something brighter, darker, calmer, or more exciting.

I steer the story, not the reader. But hopefully the reader goes on the same journey I do, or close to it!

#WritersCoffeeClub 9: Do you subscribe to ‘show, don’t tell’? Why, or why not?

'Show, don't tell' is advice for early writers, because most early writers start by listing events/actions in order. That advice is very useful if you haven't yet learned to zoom in.

For anyone past that stage, I don't consider it that useful. You need a mix of both, and the right balance of that mix will vary between scenes, stories, and writers.

#WritersCoffeeClub 8: How imperfect is your pacing? Do you consider imperfection a sign of your humanity?

No pacing is perfect. Perfect in creative works is subjective. Some readers prefer a generally slower pace and to dwell in the moment. Other readers prefer to always be running to the next exciting thing. All readers prefer a mix of the two.

I'm pretty happy with my pacing.

Alas, imperfection isn't actually a sign of humanity--as we've seen, LLMs are pretty fucking imperfect.

Writers’ Coffee Club for 9th February 2026

9. Do you subscribe to ‘show, don’t tell’? Why, or why not?

No. Use whatever tools you have in your writing toolbox. The skill is in knowing when and how to use those tools, not whether to use them at all.
#WritersCoffeeClub

#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 9. Do you subscribe to 'show, don't tell?' Why, or why not?

Yes and no.

I write SF/F, traditionally a genre VERY heavy on tell. It went through a long-overdue corrective in the 1980s/90s that coincided with cyberpunk and the mainstreaming of SF tropes in visual media, making lengthy descriptions less necessary to reader comprehension, so I used "show don't tell" a lot, until I realized …

Entertaining infodumps are an art form in their own right! (And one unique to SF.)

#WritersCoffeeClub 9. Do you subscribe to 'show, don't tell?' Why, or why not?

No, at least for what _I_ am writing about.

Consider this: I translate old German folk tales which were written down in the 19th century. The audience for these tales were the immediate family and neighbors of the storytellers. Thus, they had the same intense awareness of the local cultural, historical, and geographic context.

My readers generally do _not_ have this awareness. A lot of the stuff in these tales would be hard to understand even for modern-day Germans, so what chance does an international audience have?

So while I try to translate the actual tales as faithfully as possible, I must also tell my audience about this context so that they can understand them.

And as an aside, this is one of the major reasons why I do not use #LLM translations. Even if such models _could_ faithfully translate from my sources (which I doubt), they would probably make a huge mess of explaining the context of these tales. And my audience deserves better.

#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 8th: How imperfect is your pacing? Do you consider imperfection a sign of your humanity?

Imperfection is a sign of life and growth. Perfection only exists in stasis, and I have no interest in being stuck in stasis.

That said, I do strive for equilibrium and balance in my stories and my life. Too much imbalance in stories will drive my readers (and me!) away.

Personally, I am happy with my pacing in most of my stories. It maybe can tightened up here or there, but overall it's got a good flow to it, and that's what I look for.

#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 8th: How imperfect is your pacing? Do you consider imperfection a sign of your humanity?

Imperfection is a flaw I strive to minimize.

As for my pacing, it varies. But I'm about 35-40 novels into a career and I think I've got a handle on how to do multi-viewpoint/multi-threaded narratives with flashbacks and intercuts and *mostly* do it smoothly enough the reader doesn't notice the wow and flutter on the tape.

When *I* do, that's when I know it needs a redraft.

#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 7 - Share a pair of consecutive lines of a current or recent project.

"If you have a product or service that works and already has people gladly paying for it, consider ignoring the hype and focusing instead on improving that basic product or service. You'll make your users happy and build trust, while avoiding related security issues, reputational damage, and having to compete for these limited resources."

# #WritersCoffeeClub Feb 7 - Share a pair of consecutive lines of a current or recent project.

"They rode the rest of the way to the sleepy rural railway station in pensive silence. And they were halfway to orbit before the hunt rode out in front of the reynard's gun."

(No, I'm not going to explain that!)

#WritersCoffeeClub 7 Feb: Share a pair of consecutive lines of a current or recent project

"The child’s mother was now ordered to make up for the neglected discipline. She now had to diligently strike the child’s hand with a thick rod, and after she had done so for some time, the hand retreated back into the grave and stayed within it afterwards."

#WritersCoffeeClub 6. From start to finish, how much time elapses in your current WIP?

Let's see. Including flashbacks and time travel, roughly 4,376,265,500 years, or just under the estimated age of the universe. technically, a lot of that time is in another universe that marks time a little differently (their atoms don't oscillate at the same frequency as ours or something, so their second is actually 12% longer than ours), so it might be a few million years longer.

#WritersCoffeeClub 2026-02-06 From start to finish, how much time elapses in your current WIP?

Not sure yet, at least several months, possibly up to a year.