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Q&A Working with hints/clues - Show vs Tell vs Nothing -ish

You switched your style without having any reason to do so - just continue showing this via the characters thoughts It's the first time your characters encounters this reocurring thing. Just descr...

posted 6y ago by Secespitus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T23:01:22Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35010
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:31:00Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35010
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T08:31:00Z (almost 5 years ago)
### You switched your style without having any reason to do so - just continue _showing_ this via the characters thoughts

It's the first time your characters encounters this reocurring thing. Just describe it like it's the first time. Maybe you just copy-paste the same passage that you used the first time you introduced the hint. Or you describe it slightly different, maybe because the characters mood is different, or the timing (daylight for example) is different, ...

You could also make the character say something that will indicate that _this is the first time they encounter whatever your hint is_, for example in a dialogue with someone else.

Your readers will pick up on this thinking "I have read that before, haven't I? ... Hmm, strange...", which is probably what you want, while at the same time it reads as if this is happening for the first time and it feels like you continued naturally with your style.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-04-11T19:25:55Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 2