Ways to use implication to convey exposition or shorten fiction?

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  1. Rosana Clarkson profile image48
    Rosana Clarksonposted 7 years ago

    My short story "360 Degree" which appears in LetterPile does describe a character as having a "prison-chiseled chest", for example, which I figured was a more interesting way to convey backstory about a character than through miles of boring narrative so I was just wondering if other short story writers here have other suggestions for using implication to make a fiction story more concise and/or more powerful, as I am working on a new story and hope to make it less long-winded than the first, thanks.

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  2. Marisa Wright profile image83
    Marisa Wrightposted 7 years ago

    If you are seeking to improve your fiction writing then I heartily recommend joining Critiquecircle.com, where they have a great forum full of fiction writers.  You will likely get far more response there.

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  3. Natalie Frank profile image92
    Natalie Frankposted 7 years ago

    Have you done anything with them?  Gotten anything critiqued?  I've heard both good and bad things but never seemed to find a definitive answer as to how helpful they were.

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    1. Marisa Wright profile image83
      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I've had most of my novel critiqued.  You will hear bad things, but mainly from writers who are thin-skinned or egotistical.   I think too many people join thinking they'll post their piece of writing and everyone will say how fabulous it is.  That's probably not going to happen!     

      When you join a real-world writers' circle, you often don't get totally honest critiques because it's awkward to do face-to-face - people are more likely to sugar-coat their response, or mention only a few problems because it sounds too awful to mention a long list.  On CC, you get line-by-line critiques that are totally honest, and it can be confronting.  There have been times when I've been really upset - but you know what?   Once I calm down, I realise that those critiques are nearly always right.

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