Tell vs. Show By L. Allen Stovey Show your readers your story and you will pull them into the action and hold their attention. Create a moving picture in reader’s minds in order to keep the reader in the story. Showing works best for chapter openings and action scenes. Telling the story works when the writer wants to move the story along and quicken the pace. A good mix of both is best. The five senses in writing may add up to six. The sixth sense being the pictures the author creates. Good use of seeing, touching, smelling, tasting, and hearing woven into the narrative can add up to an overall sense of being in the scene for readers. For example: Telling: Jack chased the dog that was chasing his cat into the back yard, tripped on a child’s toy and fell into the pool. Showing: The neighbor’s big gray dog growled at Jack’s cat and chased it into the big back yard. Jack shoes slipped in the watered grass as he streaked around the house chasing the big gray dog. His cat scrambled so fast it didn’t notice the sixteen foot wide swimming pool straight ahead. The cat leapt across the pool in a panic mode. The hair stood up on its back and it screamed when its feet touched the water two thirds of the way across the pool. Somehow the cat splashed its way across the final few feet of water and clawed its way up the side of the blue tile surrounding the pool. The big dog plunged into the water creating a huge tidal wave that nearly drowned the cat as it streaked into a row of blue spruce trees on the other side of the pool. Jack had no choice. Unable to stop at the last second, he plunged headlong into the water, fully clothed, joining the dog for a swim. The secret to success is, never quit. That’s all. It’s easy, right! Good writing and reading.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 15:46:33 +0000
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