Watch Out for Overwriting: Once is Enough!

Wednesday, July 01, 2020
If you're a children's or young adult writer, do you ever ask yourself: How many times do I need to tell young readers important facts in my novel? Do I have to do it more because I am writing for kids and teens?  The best answer is just like you would in an adult novel—kids and teens are smart—sometimes, we don’t give them enough credit, which can lead to overwriting.



Here’s an example of overwriting from my own writing. I am using the characters from my middle-grade historical fiction novel, Finding My Place, set during the Civil War’s Siege of Vicksburg; but hopefully, I do not actually do this in the novel (although the draft probably had passages like this or worse!). This passage could have easily appeared in a rough draft:

In picture books, writers hardly ever have to tell readers how a character is feeling because the illustrator can show that. Sometimes for the sake of rhythm or explaining a concept, an “emotion” sentence will be included. But this should be the exception, rather than the norm.


When you have a spot where you think you’re overwriting, choose the strongest image or the least wordy one or even the example where you do the most showing instead of telling. Most of the time, you only need to tell a reader one time about an event or a character—unless you’re repeating words or phrases on purpose as a literary device.

One spot to really watch for, especially if you have an exciting YA novel or a middle-grade mystery,  is when you write an action scene for readers, and then later in the story, a character is asked about what happened. The character should not retell the entire story. Readers already saw it unfold. For example, let’s say one of your characters witnessed a convenience store robbery when he was buying a candy bar. He talks to police after the robbery, but all readers need to know is something like this:



Margo L. Dill is teaching her WOW! novel writing course with a writing coach this summer, starting on July 3 and on August 7. To sign up, go here. Her next class for novel writers for middle grade and YA readers starts on September 30. 


Sue Bradford Edwards said...

I don't know if what I'm spotting in my ms is overwriting as much as it is just repeating myself. I've been reading my mystery ms and find myself thinking, I said that, I already used that example, why am I saying that AGAIN?"

Whatever you call it, I've got plenty of work ahead of me. Like finishing this draft.

Margo Dill said...

Hey Sue:
I think that we don't realize we do this! And I am a believer in how important it is to get the draft finished. I do think we fix overwriting in the revision process. Good luck with the manuscript!

Sioux Roslawski said...

Margo--It's a fine line (for me). I don't want to leave any holes, so the reader is clueless, but as you say, I also want to give the reader credit. (I also doubt that Sue is as redundant as she claims. ;)

Cathy C. Hall said...

I think my manuscripts tended to be a little underwritten because I initially came from flash and/or short, short stories; I assumed TOO much.

Then I began to overcompensate by overwriting. Ugh!

Sue Bradford Edwards said...

It isn't that I mention something 4 or 5 times. It is 4 or 5 things mentioned twice. Sometimes that works but the way I've done it? Nope.

But like Margo said, the rewrite will give ma a chance to fix things like this.

Margo Dill said...

Sioux: One time at Saturday Writers, I remember a speaker letting us know that we really didn't have to write all action that a character does. Some is implied. If they are driving in their car, we all know that they had to get in it and start it, etc. I think it's a fine line though because sometimes if you don't write in-between steps, readers are confused and wonder about a transition from one scene to the next. With plotholes, I think it's the same way. Some things we can hope the reader will assume, but some things we do have to spell out. I think really in the above post, I am also trying to make the point that we don't have to overwrite just because we write for young readers. It's all about pacing and style, no matter who we write for.

Cathy: HA! We can't win--right?

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