Showing and not telling is another critical element in storytelling.
One definitely does not want to ‘tell’ what a character is doing… unless necessary. Then again, I am unsure.
Yeah, it is better to show and not tell, folks.
It goes like this, as one writes their story, the character is fleshed out better when the writer explains through ‘showing’ what the character is doing, thinking, feeling, things of that nature. I noticed I came off telling more in what a character is doing while under the notion I am actually showing it. It is tricky, tricked my mind, and screwed me up as I go back and revise every ‘thought’, ‘feel’, ‘see’, and several other killer verbs that can and will destroy what is really good, and that is giving strength by ‘showing’ each and every action in good detail.
Keep in mind I did not say ‘Flashy’ and ‘Epic’, because trying to impress trumps the nature of a good story every time. You do not want to confuse your readers with big words a reader will most likely lose their brain in trying to figure out what said word means, but you DEFINITELY want to throw your reader into a thinking spree. This here makes them feel your character’s life, as I say, the breath of a character through words. It will strike a multitude of feelings in which after showing them these actions they have their own grasp of who and what they are… pretty much getting to know them.
In case I am still leaving one in what I call a ‘confuzzle’, here is what I mean below:
Verbs convey actions, events, and being (look it up). They are the easiest way to deliver in narrative without actually ‘detailing’ said actions, events, and state of being. Here is an example below:
Sean knows he is going to have fun once the kids go back to school.
Instead of saying, he ‘knows’, it is best to add some meat to those bones:
Sean counts down Mary and Dawn’s final summer days, laying a glance to the overly marked calendar blotched black upon white. Only two days left, one of the dates starred in gold and glitter, a flashy reminder of sweet liberation as he beams a cheek-swelled smile ear-to-ear.
I removed the ‘know’ verb out and threw some weight gainer in that line making it two sentences instead of one, and decent detail. Sure, one can make it far more grabbing to the reader, but the point gets across that Sean there is going to be one ecstatic man the moment Mary and Dawn are out of his hair, and face stuck in the books… until those breaks kick in.
That is, ladies and gentlemen, one example on how showing is way better than not telling. Trust me I have made a few bad ones in my manuscripts… that I aim to comb over before sending it in for critique. It is an easy muck up to fix when all one has to do is hit CTRL+F in MSWord and put in every verb or so that can be a pain in your work. So far I went back and started to clean up those ‘knows’ and ‘thoughts’. I do it when not writing and got time to do it. Trying not to spend all day writing now, dropping my Chapter a Day down to 500-2000 words daily, and have more time to take care of other things.
So besides the use of action verbs, provide visual details for the reader to embrace instead!
No comments:
Post a Comment