Show and Tell

Maybe there’s room for both, telling as well as showing. It’s something to think about.
― A.D. Aliwat, In Limbo

Most people say, "Show, don't tell," but I stand by Show and Tell, because when writers put their work out into the world, they're like kids bringing their broken unicorns and chewed-up teddy bears into class in the sad hope that someone else will love them as much as they do.
— Colson Whitehead

My job is to show and tell. If I get better at showing and telling then presumably I get hired more.
— Tom Hardy

Do you remember “show and tell” from your primary school days? Most schools don’t do that anymore, which I think is a shame. We had a lot of fun with it, and sometimes you could actually learn something from what the other kids brought in. Often, when you brought something in to “show” you also ended up having to “tell” the class something about it.

When it comes to writing, a lot of people have trouble showing instead of telling the story. Fiction is all about forging an emotional link between the author and the reader. You want to make your writing vivid enough to grab a reader’s attention and draw them into the story.

Good writing should evoke sensation in the reader and one of the best ways to do this is by creating vivid images that immerse readers in the world of the fiction. Do this by showing the readers what’s happening, not just telling them.

Don’t just say “it’s raining”, help the reader experience the storm. Involve the emotions. Take fear, for instance. Fear is a strong emotion with a great many ways to describe it - the stomach gets tied in knots, breaking out in a sweat, shivering, uncertainty in the eyes, huddling in a ball, a strong urge to run away. . .

Another way of doing this is by using the five senses. Have your character see what’s around them, taste the smooth silky flavor of the latte they’re drinking, feel the softness of the kitten’s fur beneath their hand, hear the wind shushing through the trees, and smell the ozone in the air from a storm.

You want your reader invested in the character. You want the reader inside the action. That's the sign of good writing . . . to pull the reader out of his ordinary life and put him in the middle of someplace else.

Many writers resort to telling because they believe the reader won't get the point if they don't. Often writers tell, then show, to make sure they get their point across, in effect treating their readers like morons. But the truth is that when you take out the telling, the showing remains.

But telling also has its place. Telling will slow things down. A story that’s non-stop action can be exhausting for the reader. After an extended, action-filled scene, narrative (telling) can give the reader a break. It also varies the story’s rhythm.

Telling can also be used to transition between scenes. A brief event can smooth the way between bits of action or character interaction, without leaving an illogical gap or a sudden, unintentional jump in time.

The mark of a good writer is the ability to use both showing and telling to their best advantage. A successful story is one that has a balance between the two, and only you, as the writer, can decide how much should be shown, and how much should be told.

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WORDAGE REPORT

Kind of a so-so week last week. I got my posts up, and on time, but didn’t do much beyond that (writing wise). My serial story is winding down so I’ve started thinking about what I’ll be doing next for Fiction Fridays.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts –
1,374+471+322+992=3,159
Poetry
322 (included in blog posts)

Total words: 3,159

Three-minute words –
130+88+129+91+114+118+104=774

Goals For Next Week:
Write something other than my three-minute words and blog posts. Decide what I’m going to do for Fiction Fridays once the serial is done.

EDITING:
The mediocrity of the week extended to my editing. I managed 50 more pages of Magickal Misfire, but it should have been a lot more. Unfortunately, one of the time slots I’d designated for editing got used for something else.

Goal For Next Week:
Keep up the good work on Magickal Mayhem.

MARKETING MONDAY:
This time I didn’t forget, I just didn’t wanna. My car was in the shop for an oil change and they decided the front brakes needed replacing, and it was a rainy, miserable day which tends to make me rainy and miserable.

Goal For Next Week:
Submit two flash stories and one poem.

TECHNO TUESDAY:
C’mon, I set up my Paperwhite, what more do you want from me? *sigh* I can only blame the weather for so much. It was a crappy week, weather-wise, which put me in a crappy mood, and I just wasn’t up to learning anything new.

Goal For Next Week:
Do something else technical or educational (like access one of my tutorials).

POETRY WEDNESDAY:
Two weeks in a row with a new form and a new poem! I think I’ve been away from doing the forms long enough that I’ve found a new interest in them.

Goal For Next Week:
Share a new poetry form and new poem.

CRAFTING:
Kind of a mediocre week for crafts too. I got one side of my canvas tote bag stamped, but just one side. I didn’t want the other side rubbing off while I was working on the first one. I also got the granddaughter’s dragon transferred onto some blue material for her pillow. Then I put the ironing board away so I could set up my sewing machine to work on some other stuff. LOL

Goal For Next Week:
Work on pillow. Finish sansevieria. Start embroidery on tote bag.

WHAT I’M READING:
Last week I read The Next Always, The Last Boyfriend, and The Perfect Hope, by (you guessed it!) Nora Roberts. I barely started Sea Swept, also by Nora Roberts, and just for variety started The Bookshop of Second Chances, by Jackie Fraser.

On the Paperwhite I read The Bear’s Chosen Mate, by Vivian Arend, which was perfectly yummy. ;-)

Goal For Next Week:
Finish the latest Nora Roberts if I must, and then put her away for awhile. I have many other books waiting to be read.

GOAL REVIEW:
My blog posts were up, and all on time. It’s so much easier when I stay on top of things. And I managed a new poetry form. However, that was the only writing I did, which is a little disappointing. I did get some editing done though.

I did not get anything sent out for publication, nor did I do anything technical on Tuesday.

I just couldn’t seem to settle on a craft, and ended up getting little done there. I got caught up looking at cross stitch patterns, and when I went online to order my father-in-law a pair of shoes, Amazon tempted me with these little metal charms that would be perfect for my appliqué work. No, I did not resist temptation. I ordered three different bags of them.

So . . . last week was kind of three steps forward, two steps back. But I’m sill moving in the right direction so let’s hope I can keep it up.

Happy writing.