Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and writing. I’m working on a new story and it’s coming along, but enough about that.
Today, I want to talk about writing. I haven’t done a writing post in a while, so I thought I’d do one today. Today, I want to talk about overexplaining in writing. This is something all writers struggle with because they want to make sure the reader understands their characters and their motivations.
This is a good thing, but reading is an active experience. When an author overexplains it turns the experience into a passive one, and that makes the reader lose interest. We don’t want our readers to lose interest, right? So, we need to make sure we don’t overexplain.
Another disadvantage of overexplaining is that it slows the pace of the story which may make the reader put the book down. We don’t want that, do we? Heck no. We want the reader to stay glued to the novel until the very last page. So, let the reader do their own thinking and draw their own conclusions. That keeps them engaged in the story.
It also creates emotional distance. Authors don’t want that. We want our readers to connect with our characters. If we create emotional distance our readers don’t connect. This means they’re more likely to put our book down.
Also, overexplaining can be condescending. Readers like to use their critical thinking skills to draw their own conclusions. If we take that away from them and overexplain, the author gives them the impression that they don’t think they’ll figure it out on their own. It alienates your reader. We don’t want to do that because we want them to keep reading.
So, there you have it. How overexplaining can ruin your reader’s experience. Do you overexplain? How do you change that? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!
