There are a lot that are kind of off . Usually from those who have little lines to pick from . And some that just feel like something else would ' ve been better . IE I personally feel Sion ' s would be better if it was just Cowards ! . Which he yells during his ult . But last I heard it was one of his other lines . which . as consolation . he does say cowards . which seems to be his favourite word . next to blood and death . <| sep |> This was spot on It just amazes me how they are trying to legalize cheating because crime and punishment is not good enough , like that will fix everything and stop people from CL . <| sep |> I count 6 legs on Cora ! !<| sep |> People gonna sleep <| sep |> You ' re absolutely correct that the key to improvement lies in practice . Read and write constantly , and also a good thing for dialogue is to watch highquality TV shows to get the feel of a living spoken word stuff like Westworld , Stranger Things , Homeland , Breaking Bad , etc . They have very good writing and acting . Considering characterization . I personally oppose to the idea of writing stories like RPGs . Literature is its own medium , and not all techniques from bordering genres fit . Blank slate characters work for video games . and even then , they ' re not really blank slates in a lot of cases . Is Commander Shepard a blank ? Is the Grey Warden or Adam Jensen from Deus Ex just shoes to fill ? RPGs like Skyrim or Diablo or Fallout do have actual player placeholders with little to know background , acting as a vehicle for the player to interact with the world , but do note that it ' s these games with the blanks that have shallow narratives . It ' s always interaction vs story . And literature is about the story . A literary world or setting isn ' t the same as a video game world , you really can ' t roam or explore it without the context of the narrative and the characters that drive this narrative forward . As to the what you call a third narrator , I just call it the narrative . Thing is , you can ' t escape it . Characters themselves , their actions , are not sufficient to tell a story , in my opinion . Being a very visual person , I write as if I ' m describing a movie in my head , and the narration , in my opinion , is akin to a camera and an editing board . If the story onky describes what the characters do and stops at that , its like having a small first person webcam mounted on the characters head . We ' re limited only to their angle of the story , their perception a tunnel vision , if you will . In some cases it does work as a literary device , but it ' s not enough to carry the weight of the whole structure . The narration , on the other hand , acts as a fullon camera , that shows us every facet of the story . It can zoom in and out as well going far away to describe impartially everything from an eagle ' s pov up in the sky bad anime . And it can zoom in incredibly close , initimately focusing on the character , their thoughts or inner monologue . That shift of zoom is what gives modern literature its dynamics and lifelike realism . How it pertains to showing vs telling ? Im a proponent of doing both at the same time . I ' ll give you an example in the form of three different narrative structures . The narrative is that John Doe is scared . John ' s breath quickened . His heart was pounding in his chest and his palms grew sweaty . He peeked beyond the corner and then immediately jerked back . A whimper left his mouth . Then , turning on his heel , he ran here we use an approach similar to yours . We just show , we give the character his camera and eschew narration from the side . We see and know only what the character physically does . John was scared . John was terrified to look beyond the corner . He wanted to run , but stood in place , petrified by the mortal terror . Finally , he gathered his wits , and ran . this is the classic telling , not showing . There ' s no indication as to why John is scared , nothing that conveys that he is beyond the opinion of the unseen narrator . We ' re expected to believe John is scared . John ' s breath quickened , and he felt his heart pound in his ears . It was just like in his childhood , when he hid in a gardening shed from the neighbors crazy dog , afraid to even let out a sqeak , lest the beast pounced into his sanctuary . Now , that taste of fear returned . He looked at his hand , at the tremor , and clenched his fist . He had to run . Not hide , like he did back then , but run faster than ever . and here we mix . Yes , we spell out that John is afraid telling , but through physical description , recollection and narration , we also SHOW how the fear forms , how it affects John as a character . I think the greatest authors that accomplish this cinematic style of storytelling are Stephen King , China Mieville , William Gibson and nd G . R . Martin . I highly recommend reading their work , studying the devices they use to enrich your writing and find your style .