{"id":1421,"date":"2024-06-27T13:57:34","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T12:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/?p=1421"},"modified":"2024-06-27T13:57:35","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T12:57:35","slug":"day-22-monthofblogging-june2024-monthofwriting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/2024\/06\/27\/day-22-monthofblogging-june2024-monthofwriting\/","title":{"rendered":"DAY 22 – #MonthOfBlogging #June2024 #MonthOfWriting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SHOW NOT TELL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have heard of this term. But what does it mean?<\/strong>
As fiction writers, we create an imaginary world, with imaginary characters and imaginary plots. And the key word here is: IMAGINE<\/strong>.
Legendary BBC Broadcaster Alistair Cooke once said \u201cI prefer radio because the pictures are better.\u201d
Clearly, Alistair was of the opinion that, using words to fire up listener\u2019s imaginations can tell a better story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s perhaps no better example than the featured image on this post: \u201cDon\u2019t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.\u201d<\/strong> – Anton Chekhov.
Isn\u2019t that a beautiful phrase? And doesn\u2019t that create a better image in your head, which also, possibly, raises a questions: why is the glass broken? What are we doing her during the night?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s another example: \u201cEmma was sad.\u201d<\/em> Okay. It\u2019s short, to the point. She\u2019s sad. But sadness is an emotion, so why not instil some emotion, some sharing of Emma\u2019s emotion, with the reader? Enjoyment of stories is much better if the reader can imagine themselves as one of the characters. \u201cEmma was quiet. I looked across at her, seeing her face blank, tears forming in her eyes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can show so much about a character\u2019s internal status and demeanour by body language and facial expression. They don\u2019t need to tell us how they\u2019re feeling at this particular time – we can see!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also show a character\u2019s mood through their dialogue, and how they say things. Compare these two lines: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her eyes lifted to look at his face, showing pain, anguish, even fear. \u201cIt\u2019s not right,\u201d he whispered.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her eyes lifted to look at his face, showing pain, anguish, even fear. \u201cIt\u2019s not right!\u201d he bellowed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay. Let\u2019s try one of these ourselves. Take the view you have, or a view through a window. \u201cI can see a tree in the sunshine. There\u2019s a breeze.\u201d<\/em> That\u2019s a bit boring, isn\u2019t it?
\u201cThe silver birch outside my window bent, lazily, its branches flicking in every direction. Harsh midday sunlight reflected off its bark, forcing me to look away.\u201d<\/em> It\u2019s a bit more \u2018wordy\u2019, and it\u2019s a much better picture I\u2019m creating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can show seasons: \u201cDeep snow lay like a puff-white blanket in the garden\u201d<\/em> (winter); \u201cThe smell of fresh-cut grass wafted in through the open window for the first time this year\u201d<\/em> (spring); \u201cIn the distance, I can hear children\u2019s excited voices as they cool off in the city-centre fountains\u201d<\/em> (summer); “Dried leaves crackle and branches snap underfoot\u201d<\/em> (autumn). I\u2019m sure you could do better – these are ones I just made up now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have a look at something you\u2019ve written recently. Is there a way to enhance the storytelling by showing, not telling?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHOW NOT TELL You may have heard of this term. But what does it mean?As fiction writers, we create an imaginary world, with imaginary characters and imaginary plots. And the key word here is: IMAGINE.Legendary BBC Broadcaster Alistair Cooke once said \u201cI prefer radio because the pictures are better.\u201dClearly, Alistair was of the opinion that, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,6,8,15,16,17],"tags":[70,118,73,123,46,122,54,71,119,25],"class_list":["post-1421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice","category-inspiration","category-my-writing","category-thinking","category-writing","category-writing-on-writing","tag-advice","tag-author","tag-beginner","tag-chekov","tag-creativity","tag-show-not-tell","tag-success","tag-tips","tag-writer","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/BLOG-show-not-tell-Quotefancy-208477-3840x2160-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5y3CH-mV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1421"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1424,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions\/1424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}