Ernest Hemingway had a simple rule for writing: if you know something well enough, you can omit it, and the reader will feel its presence like the bulk of an iceberg beneath the water. He called it the Iceberg Theory (or the Theory of Omission), and it’s perhaps the most powerful worldbuilding principle ever articulated. Show only the tip-10% of what you know. But you must know the other 90%. ...
Brain Series Current: Pareidolia The McGurk Effect All Posts The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon You see a face in the electrical outlet. Another in the clouds. Your morning toast looks like it’s staring at you. ...
“I love you,” she gasped. “Really?” he queried. “Yes!” she exclaimed. “But-” he stammered. “No buts,” she interjected. Stop. This is bad writing. And it’s bad for a very specific reason: the dialogue tags are working too hard. The golden rule: “Said” is invisible. Everything else calls attention to itself. And in 95% of cases, you don’t want readers noticing your dialogue tags-you want them immersed in the conversation. What Are Dialogue Tags? Dialogue tags (also called “attributions”) identify who’s speaking: ...
Brain Series Current: The McGurk Effect Superfood for Your Brain All Posts Pareidolia Watch someone’s lips say “ga” while the audio plays “ba,” and your brain will hear “da”-a sound that doesn’t exist in either the visual or auditory input. ...
Deeply Personal Current: Nostalgia on a Plate Cats and Empathy All Posts Next Nostalgia on a Plate: Why We Crave Foods from Our Childhood My wife was chopping vegetables when she stopped, knife mid-air, and said: ...
Perfect turn-taking is a myth. Real conversations don’t work like written dialogue usually looks: A: "I went to the store." B: "What did you buy?" A: "Milk and bread." Real conversations are messier: A: "I went to the store and-" B: "Did you get the milk?" A: "I was about to-yeah, I got-" B: "Because last time you forgot and-" A: "I got it! I got the milk." Real speech includes: ...
Brain Series Current: Superfood for Your Brain Neurogenesis All Posts Next ...
Watch any great dialogue scene and you’ll notice something: characters almost never directly agree with each other. Even when they’re on the same side, even when they ultimately want the same thing, they resist, deflect, challenge, or qualify. This is called “The No Game”-and it’s one of the simplest, most powerful techniques for creating dynamic dialogue. What Is the “No” Game? The principle: Characters instinctively resist what other characters say, even in small ways. ...
Deeply Personal Current: Cats and Empathy Previous All Posts Nostalgia on a Plate Cats and Empathy: Do They Actually Know When You’re Sad? It was 2 AM when my wife woke me up, her voice tight with pain. ...
Brain Series Current: Neurogenesis Previous All Posts Superfood for Your Brain For most of the 20th century, neuroscience had a dogma: “You’re born with all the neurons you’ll ever have. Neurons don’t regenerate.” ...