Sanduleak
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(1/4/02 10:46 pm)
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Fiction writing lesson - Show, don't tell
Show/don’t tell
It’s one of the most commonly used phrases in writing and the teaching of writing and it is crucial to deepening reader involvement (through character). Understanding the roles of both showing and telling (when necessary) and knowing when and how to utilise both methods is one of the most valuable lessons a writer will learn.
First of all let’s clarify that ‘show/don’t tell isn’t an absolute, in that some times (e.g. for reason of economy) it is necessary to tell. Such passages are usually called exposition. Exposition is normally used to set a time and place for the events of the story. Exposition can appear at the beginning of a work and then at various strategically placed points in the story, when the time and place need to be reset or when the author needs to get across certain information about setting or character for the reader to get their bearings in the next part of the story. This is telling in its purest form, simple passing of information. In Nineteenth-Century novels authors would often use page after page of exposition, sometimes using it in place of actually letting the reader experience the emotions and sensations of the story first hand. This kind of ‘author heavy’ writing is almost non existent now, as modern readers demand more personal involvement (i.e. they want to live the character’s lives themselves) rather than do what amounts to attending a lecture.
This doesn’t mean that exposition has to read like a paragraph from a maths textbook. A wise writer can still harness the elements used in showing (personification with character, focusing on physical and emotional sensations) in telling as much as they would in a purely showing passage.
This is an important point. As in most things to do with writing, it’s not so much the methods themselves but how the writer uses them that means the difference between diverting the reader for a short while and drawing them into the story .
As a reader, a piece of writing can enter our consciousness through the intellect or through the senses. Usually telling contacts the intellect and showing comes to us via our senses. Telling engages the logical part of our minds that assembles and disseminate information, but does not trigger any creativity in our imagination. This is the key. The simple reason why a piece of writing that shows is always more powerful is that it allows the reader to take a place in the story and use their own imagination to build a picture. Whereas telling almost instructs us as to how and what to feel, showing allows us to feel the scene and gain our own impressions. A writer should allow the reader that space. Telling maintains a distance between the reader and the story, though the writer and reader are close together, as if the writer were in the same room, giving the reader a set of instructions. Showing expands the distance between the writer and the reader but closes the distance between the reader and the characters and the story.
Sometimes telling is used in the introduction to a passage, almost as a map for the reader to get their bearings as to the what, where, when and who of the story, then the writer pulls back, slowly, leading the reader step into the gap. This is an effective way of combining both showing and telling to get crucial information across but also allow the reader to walk within the story.
But be careful with exposition, because nothing works better in fiction than a real, live scene, with a setting, characters, movement and dialogue. If you must put in an expository passage, use only the most specific details and look to weave them into a narrative line that propels itself forward (taking the reader with it.)
There is some interchange, where a passage gets necessary information across to us but does it in a subtle, sensual form.
A quick way to tell whether your own writing is showing or telling is to check for the following;
1) Does the scene feel like it’s happening in real time? (showing)
2) Is there natural dialogue? (showing)
3) Have you used phrases like ‘he thought, she knew, they felt’? (telling)
4) Have you used a lot of similes? E.g.; it was as hot as…(telling)
5) Are there moments in the passage where you feel you can reach out and touch some object described? (showing)
6) When you read the passage to yourself, do you feel some emotion, even just a twinge? (showing)
7) Do you feel yourself skipping quickly through the passage to get to the factual information out of the way and get to the real meat of the story? (telling)
8 ) Does the piece feel more like a second hand summation (telling) than an actual experience (showing)?
Practical exercise
If you can do this exercise in tandem with another writer - all the better. There's no substitute for direct feedback.
P.O.V. – can be either first or third person
Think of someone you feel strongly about. Your feelings can be positive or negative, either will suit. They can be a public figure or someone you know personally. You don’t have to name any names. If you’re feeling creative already then invent a character that embodies traits you feel strongly about.
We’ll do this exercise in two parts.
Part one;
List why you feel the way you do about this person. E.g.: I like them because they are generous and compassionate etc., I dislike them because they are arrogant and pushy. List 3 things about them down the left hand side of a piece of paper.
Part two;
Now think of 1 live example of each of those traits, or 3 different examples of one trait, if you prefer. It can be something that really happened, or imaginary. Write a brief scene, in any form or P.O.V. you feel comfortable with. The key here is the scene has to contain a specific example of something you can see, feel, touch etc.
Write the scene down the right hand side of the page, a paragraph or two will do. You can use narrative only or dialogue - no exposition. The scene can include only the person themselves or another character and the interaction between the two.
I.e. where you may have answered ‘they are generous’ on the left hand side of the page, now give us an actual example and this time, do not mention the trait specifically. E.g.;
‘She came to see me after my mother died and we sat sipping tea on the couch. No words were spoken. Then she lifted a set of keys from her purse. “There’s no one at the bach this time of year” she said. “If you need some time.” I nodded, fumbled for the keys. I began to say, “How much…” She blinked my words away, shook her head and closed her hands over mine and squeezed.
Make your scene as human as possible. The reader needs to feel the essence of the character’s trait you are hinting at. The aim of this exercise is to get you thinking always in terms of living, breathing examples, not bald statements, abstract concepts or generalisations.
Run through the exercise a few times, with different characters. Looking to hone in on specific details. That's the key to 'show, don't tell.'
Detail.
(Copyright James George, 2001)
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you
- Maori proverb
For discussions on the art and mechanics of Creative Writing, visit;
The Crossing
Edited by: Sanduleak at: 1/5/02 7:50:41 am
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