OMG!
I know that is a silly, juvenile way to express amazement, but I’m doing it that way today because I feel quite enthused about what I just learned about writing with subtext.

I’d heard podcasts before that discussed subtext. (Most notably on The Narrative Breakdown.) But when I read this article and this one, something really clicked for me.

You can learn all that is needed from those two articles, but let me just summarize by saying:
On The Nose Writing – Bad.
Subtext (Off The Nose) – Good.

I tend to be literalistic, thinking and speaking in very concrete (and obvious) terms. And, unfortunately, my characters take on some of that personality too. But not saying exactly what you mean adds depth to writing.

I have a perfect example from my own scene which I just modified after reading these two articles.

The scene is that Mike and Mark are locked in a jail cell together. Mike doesn’t like his body and he feels trapped in it. I wanted to make an analogy between his feeling trapped in his body and being trapped in a jail.

This is what I first wrote:
“You always appeal to logic, don’t you?” said Mark. “We’re in here for good, or bad. We’re going to have to find our own way out.”
“I’ve tried. I’m trapped in this jail, just like I’m trapped in this body.” Michael turned away and stared out the window.

This is how I re-wrote it:
“You always appeal to logic, don’t you?” said Mark. “We’re in here for good, or bad. We’re going to have to find our own way out.”
Michael turned toward the dirty mirror on the wall. “I’ve tried. I’m trapped in this jail.”

I’m so much happier with the re-write. It’s subtle, but still communicates the message, doesn’t it?

So my goal now is to review all of the dialogue in my novel and decide where I can remove On The Nose writing and replace it with subtext.