Show ! But Don't Tell.

Writing is the process of expressing ideas, thoughts, information, emotions or every other feeling through words. Although, every piece of writing aims to impart information in a convincing way, what makes writing different from other is its style – the way it is written. Writing a piece and making it interesting and beautiful is quite different aspects of writing. A piece of writing can be impressively informative but cannot be appealing or interesting always. 

Some stories are so interesting in themselves that the facts are enough. Others may be important to the reader, but the facts themselves are unappealing unless the writer makes some special effort to make them interesting and meaningful. Any story can be improved by the creative use of language. News writers as well as novelists can add creative touches to their stories. They can use the right words in the right way and pain pictures for their readers. Sometimes this is referred to as adding color to the story (Hough, 1995).   

‘Show, Don’t Tell’ is a widely used technique for adding color to the story. Writing students and fictional and non-fictional writers are often confronted with this jargon, which simply means a writer should construct his piece in a way that its readers can see people, places and events through the written words as if they were themselves at the location where the action occurred. 

Showing is reliable technique of writing for two basic reasons. First, it creates mental pictures for the readers and second, showing means creating an interactive platform where readers feel actively involved in the story. The purpose of ‘Show, don’t Tell’ can be achieved by using following techniques;

1.  Let your readers see it

Sol Stein, in his book Stein on Writing, says, “Twentieth-century readers, transformed by film and TV, are used to seeing stories. The reading experience for a twentieth-century reader is increasingly visual. The story is happening in front of his eyes.” This is even more true in the twenty-first century. As literary agent and author Donald Maass says in Writing 21st Century Fiction: “Make characters do something that readers can visualize.” Through showing, the writers create visual scenes for the readers, who can ‘observe’ the unfolding of events as they read. Thus, the piece of writing should provide ample scenes sandwiched between information that a reader can visualize everything he/she reads.

Example 1: I missed the bus.

Example 2: I raced down the road, wildly waving my hands, and yelling, “Stop, stop,” but the bus traveled on down the road without stopping.

These two examples talk about someone missing the bus, while their way of presentation varies significantly. The first example simply narrates the event, whereas the second example shows how he/she missed the bus.

2. Use of dialogue and quotation

Hough observes, “When we quote people directly, we bring them into the story and let them speak. The way people talk, what they say for themselves or toe each other, can reflect character and personality. Their words can illustrate a point in a story or shed light on an obscure or complicated matter. Writers who let the people in their stories speak for themselves add color, human interest and detail to their copy.”  Use of dialogue in writing allows the reader to experience a scene as if they were present as the third person. Dialogue also gives the reader an impression of character, emotion and mood. Both direct and indirect quotes can be used while adding color to the text.  

3. Appealing to senses

The writer should be well aware about appealing to senses through words. Readers should be able to see, hear, taste, smell and touch the world around them. So, making readers see is not enough rather the language should appeal to other senses as well.

4. Insert anecdotes

The anecdote – a little story, an episode – adds color and human interest to news story. Anecdotes are, of course, especially effective in stories about people: interviews, personality sketches, biographical sketches and obituaries (Hough, 1995). A short anecdote can be helpful in adding color to the stories and show what a writer wants to show to its readers.  

5. Be descriptive

The piece of write up should give a vivid description of the event reported. Providing detailed description of the situation or event through using word picture can be instrumental for addling color to the story. Saying that, providing description doesn’t mean excessive use of words. There should be playful use of words.  It’s carefully incorporating appropriate words for conveying the message. For example:

The clock reads 4:27 am. Outside, a pale sun begins to emerge from behind my neighbours’ red-tiled roofs. Inside, the coffee has gone cold. But I don’t care. Six months’ hard labour has just come to an end with a glorious click on the ‘save’ button, and I am happy with what I’ve written. I pause the Lee Perry CD and switch off the computer. As the whine of the the PC fan fades into silence, I head downstairs to the fridge. I’ve earned a beer. One chapter of this book is completed…only 12 to go (Harcup, 2005).    

To conclude, ‘Show, don’t tell’ is a helpful way of adding color to the story, which, through the written words, makes the reader see what the writer want them to see than just telling about it. It is believed that if we tell someone something, they might remember it and they might believe it -- or they might not. While, if we show them, they can make a mental picture out of words, they are more likely to remember and most importantly believe it.

 Bibliography:

Hough, George. A. (1995). News Writing (5^th edition). New Delhi: Goyal Saab.

Harcup, Tony. (2005). Journalism Principles and Practice. New Delhi: Vistar.

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 http://www.dailywritingtips.com/show-dont-tell/, accessed on July 20, 2014.

http://www.writing-world.com/dawn/dawn02.shtml,  accessed on July 20, 2014.