Do you guys have any input on the 'show, dont tell' thing for creative? I have a brief idea of what it means, but I need someone to expand on some tips in terms of how this can be executed in writing. I can't even tell if I'm showing or telling honestly, ah. I always get critiqued on it by teachers, but I've never really understood how to go about this.
Hey there! You're surely not the first person to be stuck on this. I've written a guide for creative writing
here and this is what I've said about showing and not telling:
The best writers don’t give every little detail wrapped up and packaged, ready to go. As a writer, you need to have respect for your reader in that you believe in their ability to read between the lines at points, or their ability to read a description and visualise it appropriately.
“I was 14 at the time. I was young, vulnerable and naïve. At 14 you have such little life experience, so I didn’t know how to react.”
This is boring because the reader is being fed every detail that they could have synthesised from being told the age alone. To add to the point of the age, you could add an adjective that gives connotations to everything that was written in the sentence, such as “tender age of 14.” That’s a discretionary thing, because it’s not necessary. When you don’t have to use extra words: probably don’t. When you give less information, you intrigue the reader. There is a fine line between withholding too much and giving the reader the appropriate rope for them to pull. The best way to work out if you’re sitting comfortably on the line is to send your creative writing to someone, and have them tell you if there was a gap in the information. How many facts can you convey without telling the reader directly? Your markers are smart people, they can do the work on their end, you just have to feed them the essentials.
Here are some examples of the difference between showing and telling.
Telling: The beach was windy and the weather was hot.
Showing: Hot sand bit my ankles as I stood on the shore.
Telling: His uniform was bleakly coloured with a grey lapel. He stood at attention, without any trace of a smile.
Showing: The discipline of his emotions was reflected in his prim uniform.
I will add: every sentence you write doesn't need to be shown instead of told. It's variation that keeps a reader involved in the work. You don't want to be showing so much that you're leaving ambiguous gaping holes in the work, but you want to show enough that you show the marker you respect their ability to follow your work in a creative manner
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Topic: English Advanced Question Thread (Read 1568920 times)