How To SHOW and Not TELL Internal Conflict

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"Show, don't tell" is a piece of writing advice I'm sure we're all familiar with. It's easy enough to apply this rule to your descriptions and bring the action to life by showing your reader what's happening instead of just telling them — but what about internal conflict and character journeys? 

That's what today's video is all about.
Smash that like button if you like it!!

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✨T I M E S T A M P S ✨

0:00 Introduction
1:18 DO show with backstory
4:53 DON’T spell it out
5:58 DON’T tell through dialogue
7:43 DO tell character goals and desires
9:04 DON’T stress in your first draft
10:23 Outro
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✨ V A L U A B L E R E S O U R C E S✨

MORE VIDEOS YOU WOULD LIKE:

→ HOW TO FIND YOUR MC'S FATAL FLAW

→ THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF EVERY STORY

→ MY SCRIVENER SETUP

→ 10 WEAK WORDS TO CUT FROM YOUR NOVEL

✨F O L L O W ✨

✨ A B O U T ✨
My name is Abbie Emmons I teach writers how to make their stories matter by harnessing the power and psychology of storytelling, transforming their ideas into a masterpiece, and creating a lifestyle that makes their author dreams come true.

Story isn’t about “what happens” — it’s about how what happens affects and transforms the characters. I believe that there is an exact science (a recipe, if you will) behind a perfect story. And if you know what ingredients you need, you can create your own perfect story with ease and confidence. That’s what we talk about every week on this channel – and if it’s something you’re into, be sure to subscribe and join this community!
Комментарии
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"Tell everything in your first draft"
Omg I still struggle to keep my perfectionism down during the first one, this is gonna be tough

josefinasotes
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I’m 10 and this make sense to me and this is going to improve my writing greatly I watch this because I am writing a story with my friend

jellychubbs
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I loved that short collection of Disney movie examples 😂

I agree! I like to outright tell what's going on in my novel the first time around, then try and make it more subtle later.

juliaherkel
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'Seeing the skeleton of your story' - what a fantastic way to put that.

KierenWestwoodWriting
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Something that helps me with writing is to write from my character's perspective. Seriously, writing their thoughts in their own voice, it's really helped me so far.

sassylittleprophet
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Yes! Thank you! I love that idea. Why struggle with the balance when you're just spitting out the story when you can go back and fix it later?

dellieborton
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I'm 10 and a LITTLE too distracted. Abbie Emmons is the only youtuber who can hold my attention span as long as 11 minutes.
P.S. I'm writing a full-length supernatural novel and every video you upload has been super supportive to me.

loverbutch
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The way I am showing internal struggle is by showing how my MC tries to put boundaries around what he is doing. He knows what he is doing is wrong but justifies it by saying he is not doing (whatever is outside his arbitrary line in the sand)

LeeAnneRMT
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Putting all your details in the first draft is such a good tip, because that's what JK Rowling does, basically she had a backstory for almost all the characters she wrote, and the world and magic system is way more detailed than it seems, but she only left the parts that mattered to Harry's story.

lilypond
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A fab video as always. I particularly like the idea of doing lots of 'telling' in the 1st draft, then editing it out later. Please please please do a vid on your thoughts re 1st/2nd/3rd person writing.

stephenmayor
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Got it. No skeletons. Thank you as always, Abbie!!

eziouxxx
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As soon as you said “Disney movies are famous for doing this” I started singing “I wanna be where the people arrre” and then you launched right into the supercut😂 What an awesome video, fantastic content and great production!

TylersToyBox
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I get stuck on every detail when writing a first draft. I like the idea of just 'telling' and editing later. Less perfection, more production.

timeslot
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Thank you for these incredible videos! I have found that verb choice is everything. Here's an example:

He broke into a smile. "I'd love to."
OR
He pasted on a smile. "I'd love to."

I haven't spelled out the emotions of the character, yet you know exactly how he feels. The latter sentence shows internal conflict without the character falling into a brown study. Of course you are completely manipulating the reader, but in a way they love! :)

joyejohnson
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literally found this and my jaw dropped listening. i show the internal conflict throughout the story but tell it all in chapter 1. thank you for saving my story once again, Abbie!

drawnear
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I’m a 21 year old aspiring author based in india. I’ve been working on a story for about four years and it’s very close to becoming a book. All my characters face intense internal conflict and my protagonist faces it the most. Thank you so much for your videos. They’re really inspiring!

harsheathchauhan
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This is so helpful (I took down notes on my phone while watching this). I always struggle with this but this really helps me understand what not to do and how to show it by digging deeper into the character's backstory. Sadly, many shows and films have a bad habit of telling the audience what is going on. They really don't think we're smart enough (or their putting it in there for the younger audience). xD But it's easy to see that and think it's a good idea to do the same thing in a novel ^-^; It rubs off on you after a while.

bestmermaid
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I'm writing a new novel. And these videos are so helpful!
Thank you, Abbie. 💛
And I really need a vedio about how to choose a tence for the story. To either write it in past or present.

qamarmasri
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me binge-watching all Abbie's stuff...thinking....'huh, she has a captivating personality and very, very informative ....thank you, your input MATTERS!

bettyg
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Making time sections of the video in your description box is everything. It makes it so easy to come back and remind needed informations! Thank you, you’re my favourite now. 😎✨

juliaiwaszkiewicz