Guest Post: To Tell or Overtell? by Zachary Chopchinksi

Hello, everyone! Today, I’m excited to kick off a series of fantastic guest posts from some of my favorite fellow authors. Stay tuned this week and next week for their posts, and I guarantee you’ll learn a lot and have a few chuckles along the way, too!

To tell or to overtell. That is the question. Or fear, more so. We have all been in a situation where we are obligatorily nodding our heads with the occasional “Yeah, yeah yeah” or “I know, I get it”. The story that will not end. The long-winded individual that means well, but their delivery drags on farther than stretched taffy. This is an issue that should be examined to help any tale-teller or, in our case, author. In fact, I have been known to do this on occasion…OK, it’s actually an issue of mine. I’ve been working on it, and through some of the resources I have come by I would like to pass along some of the things I’ve learned.

The threat of “over-telling” a story is a real issue that can make the author sound pompous, can let the reader get bored (or discouraged) and in many cases, cause further reading of the author to be rare. Although, it is important that the author’s story be well founded, strong, and remnant of the previous aspects of the story–so the reader does not forget anything–it is also important that the author be wary of over-telling. Strange to think of, yet very important.

So ways to combat this? READ YOUR OWN WORK! Silly, I know, and generally a given, but authors don’t always do this. Some things to look for are re-used adjectives describing similar situations. Repetition is an obvious tell. Another thing to monitor is the references to previous events within your story. If it keeps coming up, examine how to avoid that. If the repetition is necessary, consider different ways to introduce the details.

Small tips from small writer.