How to Avoid Melodrama In Your Writing | Writing Tips 

YES MY NOSE IS SUNBURNT I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT

Alt Title: How to Not Accidentally Write a Soap Opera Script. 😂😂

5:32 “The sun smiled down at him. That shiny bastard.”

“[Guy’s Name] I Lo V. E yOu!!” “No, I’m too D a nger ou s for youuuu!!” “Noo but I LWOVE WOOO!!” “I don’t want to see you get H Urt!” “Nooo! I’ll follow uoy!!” Scene.

Show vs Tell Balance: Tell protagonist is nervous about opening the door to meet the boss. Show protagonist is nervous when talking to the boss. If it's important: show. If it's minor: tell.🆑

You’re my writing teacher ❤️

"And this locket represents my mommy issues, because it holds the secrets of my family that I don't understand... I don't know i'm just making stuff up"

"Melodrama was my shit" LOL

... can I forward this video to fanfic writers? (No shade to fanfic writers-I think it’s a great way for people to explore writing. But their stories often become very melodramatic)

I love this video...IN MY SOUL!!

The problem of dreams in fiction is that often too logical and too chronologically consistent, while in reality you can't even remember the most of your dreams and add logic and overarching connections only when you retelling the dream to someone else. And the dream symbolism? I don't know about you but more often than not people don't use any real systems for dream symbolism and instead just write very straight-forward and obvious things. Like, I've studied a bit of folklore dream interpretation and it's just... insane sometimes? I remember one woman who retold this long elaborate dream about three moons distracting her from gardening and at the end interpreted that as a prophetic dream about three men who attempted to marry her and only the last one was successful.

my heart sings with how much agrees with all you said. Is that melodramatic?

For the sobbing character who found out her sister had died, the easiest thing isn’t to change what they do, but to detach the description. “She found herself limp on the sand. Her throat was burning. She couldn’t see anything. The tides kept wading.”

“Emotional texture.” That’s the phrase I’ve been looking for to explain the “show, don’t tell” rule. Nice.

whenver i think of melodrama i think of that ember island play from Avatar:TLA

I beta read and your point about souls is SPOT ON. I see it a lot and very recently saw it in some writing that (I'm laughing while writing this comment) went from "you'll always be my best friend" to a Victorian era love confession "my soul cries out for yours when you're not here, my darling..." Souls were mentioned THREE times in just two paragraphs.

SHE DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH FINGERS!!! WHY?!! WHY, LORD, WHY?!! (soul perishes in anguish)

Oh, I have a friend who needs this video just about now.

Hey, this may be a stupid question but could you talk about pacing?

The hard part about writing teenagers (and even emotionally stunted adults) is that they are melodramatic, but you don’t want to make it TOO melodramatic.

*sees title* ho boi just @ me Shaelin, just @ me (even if you don't really know who I am lol). Also thank you for the advice, you just saved me about five years and a lot of self-loathing lol. Melodrama is what makes it so hard for me to read my first drafts because yikes. Also, the balance between subtlelty and being heavy handed is really hard for me. I tend to try really hard to be subtle but clear but it always becomes really obscure and it's so frustrating. I think I do overcompensate for being heavyhanded.

Mentioning Souls. The only time I’ve used souls in reference to an emotion was it felt like my soul was splitting apart, as their soul (it was an actual magical entity) was LITERALLY being ripped from their body

I TOTALLY DID THIS. I had one of my characters break up with the other, and looking back on it is almost like reading fanfic.

That abusing Murphy's law point is kind of how I feel about writing that overuses the "yes-but, no-and" plot tool.

*First!* Love the Fact you are back to giving tips for other writers *:)*

Agree with everything but the dream point. Dreams done badly can be melodramatic but they can reveal the subconscious. When I was having difficulty with a subject in school I would have dreams about missing the exam, or splashing water over the paper or misremembering everything. Or me hanging from a weirdly tilted roof by my fingers while my family is having fun just a few steps away and then my mom crushes my hand and I fall. I'm afraid of lizards, I've had dreams of going into a room and then looking upto a ceiling filled with lizards. So melodramatic isn't it but its true. Dreams have bigger impacts on some people. My mom has night terrors. I had a nightmare when I was 9 that is the reason I'm afraid of mirrors in a room I sleep in.

I don't mind dreams if there is something tangible to them. I'd argue that films like Inception and The Matrix kind of succeed in that because there are consequences to what happens in these dreamworld, giving the story a sense of stakes.

You give really good advice and I've learnt so much from you, but could you maybe prepare some more specific/concrete examples of the points you're listing? Sometimes the advice itself is a little hard to understand without an excerpt from a book or smth to back it up. Other than that, thank youuuu

I love that animation thing that u have of yourself at the end, it’s so cute!

Would A Series of Unfortunate Events count as abusing Murphy's law 😂😂

Great subject. I agree with your point that melodrama is often something to be focused upon during revisions. My characters cry too much, lose it too much, and smash things up in temper. Maybe I feel like doing those things myself and hold back, so my characters go OTT. Who knows, right? I honestly can't remember ever knocking down and smashing up everything in my own home, out of anger or sadness. My characters do that. I think book, and more so TV, characters are prone to it. I guess it's an obvious way to show that a character is distressed. Very obvious...! 😀💝

I feel so caught O.O Probably almost everything I write is melodramatic. But it is getting better, I think. I somewhat realised it myself. I just love making up those metaphors that describe extreme pain. For the sake of it being readable, I'd have to reduce it a lot. Edit: In my current project it is a lot better than in my old ones. There is hope!

You’re spoiling us😭😭💕💕

This is one of the best writing videos I have ever seen. I love how specific you get with your advice

Every time I get a notification for your videos, I get so excited! This one did not disappoint! ❤

Aw that was very cute outro music. Thanks for another great video Shae! Still very excited that you're back.

don't avoid melodrama. buy it on itunes now! 😘

Glad to have your videos back!

I enjoy your writing videos so much. You're my favorite RU-vid Booktuber. I've learned a lot watching them. I was actually worried about this topic in my writing this week.

The videos where you give writing advice are the best!

Great advice - I love that you always pinpoint such specific techniques :)

Your videos are always so informative and entertaining! Great job! (P.S. I like the end music!)

What about a system where the soul is made out of concrete? Excuse me, I'm off to write that shit.

I've missed your videos and your amazing advice! Thank you!

Just wonderful. Thank you, Shaelin.

SHAELIN, YOU SAID, "Save it for editing." GREAT thought! I am going to lead a NaNoWriMo group beginning in September, and we are going to emphasize sequencing the writing work. "No Backspacing" and "Save it for editing" will be two of my main themes. September - Creative brainstorming and story elements. October - Outlining. November - "Write, Write Baby! Sweat, Sweat!" December+ - Edit. Rewrite. Edit. Rewrite. ad infinitum Another helpful video. Thanketh Ye.

Omg thanks for the subtex tip! I low key could not figure out why some of my scenes hit and others fell flat. Bc in the good scenes I showed what was happening without saying it giving subtext but in the bad ones the narrator simply described what was happening and how they felt without subtext

This was really helpful. Thanks, Shaelin.

Your videos have improved in quality so much in the last few months. Bravo!

I love your videos! They never fail to motivate me to get cracking on my projects. I can't wait for your writing update 😁 Do you think you could do a video on how to build a world/society/government in a sci-fi/fantasy novel?

I love u, i always felt all of these flaws in my writings but wasnt consciously aware of them, they just bothered me. Hope i can write better from now on, love u❤

There was anger in her soul. Even her dreams were full of anger. During day, all she could think of was her anger. She punched the wall, breaking two fingers and dislocating her shoulder. "I'm so angry!", she yelled as the volcano poured lava into the streets and a meteor hit Earth. Keep reading, there's a lot of suspense right now!

Your advice helps me so much! Thank you❤️

Excellent points and delivery :)

Very helpful! Glad you made this!

Regarding subtext: I heard somewhere that you should make one sentence have the power of two.

This is the energy I want in every video 💯

Your enthusiasm and passion really come across in this video-making you even more attractive. Outstanding work. ⭐️

This video is extremely helpful to me. I almost recognized some of these things myself, but after watching this video, it was more obvious. I am currently working on my first book, so I need this information. Thank you so much! I would recommend this video to all new writers.😁

One type of dreams I feel like can make sense in fictional stories, is the type of recurring dreams that everyone experience from time to time. Like when a character is going to do something important the following day. Doing a speach in front of lots of people, or getting up early to travel somewhere, and things like that, it would be completely logical for them to have dreams about oversleeping, miss the flight, forgetting their lines, etc. That's totally normal and totally relatable. If the dreams aren't described in full detail, I think it would be fine to just mention the general topic of it, and how they leave the character feeling super stressed and nervous.

Hi, Shaelin! I just wanted to come on here and say that I've been subscribed to you on my personal (private) channel for a long time, and your videos have really helped me with bettering my writing and with the confidence I have in my writing abilities. I still struggle with it from time to time, but watching how much your channel has grown and knowing that you're planning on creating your own short story collection just makes me so happy! I hope you can keep encouraging others to write, and please, please, make an announcement video for when you decide to publish your book!

Yessss thank you for this 🙏💕

Wow; you just explained why some films make me feel like not watching! This will help me in my writing. Thank you Shaelin.

Thank you for your videos, they are helping me become a better writer.

I love your voice. ❤️

That was actually advice from Stephen King: On the technique of writing, he said two things: "Keep your paragraphs short and end chapters on a cliffhanger". Think I'll take his advice, considering he's the best selling author in the history of the world.

Cliche lines feel melodramatic because, since they've been so over-used, whatever image/emotion they try to convey, it feels cheap and unearned, aka melodramatic.

Time to make the most melodramatic piece of art anyone’s ever seen

My MC is melodramatic intentionally, but this helped me with the narrative and the rest of the characters ❤️

I had a mentor in grad school who occasionally wrote "too dramatic" in the margins.

16:11 cute picture! The music goes with it.

Good post! Literally updating. Thanx.

I disagree about the 'knowing your genre' part. I feel like restricting a piece of writing to a particular genre puts borders around your thinking and limits what can happen in your book. If anything, I think the genre label shall be applied after the book has been written, and not during.

“Over the Top Reactions” What if the whole point of the story is the main character dealing with mental disorders that cause her to over-react/under-react at random times? Like, learning to over come this thing that is tearing apart her relationships and making her hate her humanity?

Thank you for the wisdom, rudolph.

I REALLY needed this video. I would say like if you agree, but yeah pretty much advice that we all need, and literally no one besides this video ever addresses it

lol I love this. Tbh, I'm a sucker for a dream sequence done well. Some of my favorite stories feature (or are about) dreams.

thank u thank u!!! I'm writing a contemporary fiction romance/drame/murder mystery and am outlining/rough writing the scenes where my adult protagonist has to kill her father (who is the murderer) when he tries to kill her when he finds out she knows he did it. It is very emotional, but I don't want it to come off as melodramatic and it's all in the writing. These tips are super helpful as always

I think cliches feel melodramatic because some cliches (like the REALLY bad ones) are SO played out that we don't relate to the emotion they're trying to convey anymore. Like, "He looked like a deer in headlights" is one that doesn't make me imagine "OhmygodImabouttoDIE" like the phrase is TRYING to express, it just makes me imagine a literal deer in headlights. Cliches like that feel like something a writer turns to when they can't express the emotion proper on their own. To be convincing and EARN your emotion, it's best to be original and memorable.

This is a mood

You should learn sign language. Very easy to say 12 with just one hand ;)

What if you want to write a soap opera on purpose?

This is just what I need aha. I'm not a new writer but when I get excited about something in the story I find myself writing melodramatic 😂 Thanks for the great tips!

Melodrama is the opposite of a mellow drama, period :)

I am on a ShaelinWrites Marathon today 😂

Okay but... the first point is a bit hard to swallow... I mean... you trusted yourself that putting up all those tapestries was a good idea and we all know how that turned out...

Haha! Love a good rant and this was up there. Now... I agree. You probably wouldn’t start crying if your sister died. You’d start of being numb and void of emotions. Empty. Crying comes later, once you understand that she’s actually dead. You wouldn’t grasp that right away. Your sister isn’t supposed to die and your mind will protect you from the impact for a while. As for dreams. Ouch. My first novel was built around dreams, but then they were real. It’s just that the protagonist didn’t know until his life had fallen apart. Putting dreams into a Nordic Noir (someone called that novel that and I found it cool enough to repeat it whenever anyone asks... and even when they don’t) is kind of fun. No melodrama because everyone is cold inside, but trying to deal with being cold inside. Anyways, loved the video.

so my story kicks off with a whole load of death (specifically a whole kingdom's death, but whatever). i'm torn between making the mc really upset over not being able to save them or just in shock- because on both sides, he never really knew his kingdom, he just fought with them in a few battles. _help please_

Where you had souls, my melodrama was all about eyes when I was a teen. The color of them, the expression, characters looking eachother in the eyes or avoiding them... lol. Just watch out for whatever your personal cliche is.

My first book is cringy. Lol. I wrote it when I was a freshman and published in the summer before sophmore year. Book 1 is too much action 😂

Do you plan to make a video on symbolism? thats a subject im really interested about. Also great video! Your videos helps A LOT in my writing

I think the reason (or one of the reasons) why cliches come off as melodramatic is bc melodrama means that the emotions of the characters are unearnedly intense compared to the readers'. With cliches, we've seen them before, so we're desensitized. So while a cliche for a /character/ is a brand-new event happening to them or a phrase they genuinely feel fits, and their emotions react accordingly, for the readers, it's brushed over like any visual noise.

Dreams are great in stories about internal conflict. They strip away all the unnecessary parts of the story and leave all that matters - the character and their conflict. Bonus if the dreams are super wild compared to the rest of the story.

Thank you!!

This is really informative! I think my main problem would be to fall too far from the poetic writing to become too melodramatic

I get the point about dreams, though I think it can be done very well myself like in The Witcher and ASOFAI. Loved Twin Peaks approach to dreams and Lynch

ALL THIS CONTENT THE INTERNET IS QUAKING (also, I'm definitely guilty of melodrama, and I've been thinking lately about how to make my work more subtle so the timing of this video couldn't be more perfect ❤)

I feel like I'm breaking all of these 🤣 (they do actually make sense in the context of my WIP)

Omg I talk about souls way too much, this was sooooo helpful

My protagonist sobs loudly on several occasions because that’s what I do when I have a meltdown and I want to normalize it.