Illustrating Literary Techniques: Further Examination of Showing Versus Telling, Sequel
Let's dive deeper into the magical world of novel writing, focusing on an essential tool for hooking readers - show, don't tell. In simpler terms, we want our stories to let the readers feel, hear, and sense the action rather than just plainly explaining it. This technique plays a crucial role in drawing the reader into the story and keeps them engaged.
Recognizing Those Telling Bits
When your story reads more like a list of facts than an immersive experience, it's probably filled with too much telling, leaving you with telling bits that need some TLC.
Emotions
Straight-up emotion words, like "She was furious," are common culprits of telling.
Descriptions
Know when to quit with the adjectives. Instead of describing a character as "slim and tall" with a stern expression, consider painting a picture with sensory details that let your readers visualize and feel the environment.
Backstory
Sharing your character's past can help flesh them out, but sometimes it becomes a bore-fest with cluttered exposition. Instead of laying it all out for the readers, try incorporating bits and pieces naturally throughout your story.
Unique Elements
If you've got some supernatural flare or fantastical elements in your story, it's tempting to just explain them away. However, this can be dull and pull readers out of the story. So, figure out engaging ways to introduce those elements.
Bringing the Telling to Life
Now that you've found those pesky telling sections, it's time to spruce them up and bring life to your story by:
Immersing through Context
Instead of explaining that a character has trust issues with her father, show it through a heated argument or a subtle, awkward interaction between father and daughter. Let your readers feel their tension and discomfort.
Engage the Senses
Make those descriptive passages sing by appealing to the senses—what the character sees, hears, touches, tastes, or smells. Remember, readers want to feel the story, not just understand it.
Nerien dashed down the cobblestone hallway, his boots echoing off the cold stone walls. In the dim light, his foot caught on a loose stone, sending a sharp pain shooting up his leg. The answering scream came from above as glass shattered into a thousand shards, shattering the silence of the night.
Do More Than Describe
Keep readers engaged by packing more punch into your sentences. Instead of simply telling them that a character runs upstairs, show their fear as they navigate the dark stairwell or create suspense with every footstep.
Reading Less is More
Don’t feel like you absolutely need to fill every empty space with explanation. Sometimes, cutting, relocating, or removing parts of the story can make it stronger, so don't be afraid to trim the fat.
Striking a Balance
Ideally, your story should be a harmonious blend of showing and telling. Showing is essential for creating an immersive reading experience, while telling can help move the story forward smoothly, ensures clarity, and prevents overloading the readers with excessive description.
Wrapping Up
Transforming telling bits into engaging scenes can truly bring your story to life and put your readers in the heart of the action. So, embrace the challenge, and happy editing! If you’d like to venture even deeper into the world of ‘show, don’t tell,’ check out our selection of helpful resources.
Resources
- Show, Don't Tell Series: This series explores various aspects of showing vs. telling, providing tips and guidelines for enhancing the storytelling experience.
- The Emotion Thesaurus: This resource helps writers tap into emotions, actions, thoughts, and sensory details for a more immersive reading experience.
- Writing Exercises: These exercises offer writers a chance to put their ‘show, don't tell’ skills into practice, creating engaging and memorable moments for their readers.
Author
Becca Puglisi is a renowned writing coach, speaker, and New York Times best-selling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. With books available in five languages and a huge following of writers worldwide, Becca shares her wisdom on her blog and through her resource-packed online library, One Stop For Writers.
- In the realm of narrative writing, writers could benefit from focusing on showing instead of telling, particularly in conveying action and emotions to keep readers engaged.
- Emotion words, such as "She was furious," can often be telltale signs of telling in a story, and writers might want to consider replacing them with descriptive actions or sensory details.
- To make a story more immersive, writers could engage readers by immersing their characters in various contexts, such as heated arguments or tense interactions that show trust issues, rather than simply stating the issues.
- When designing characters or describing environments, writers can bring their stories to life by appealing to the senses, showing rather than telling what the characters see, hear, touch, taste, or smell.
- To make entries in education-and-self-development, such as online courses on learning 'show, don't tell' techniques, like the Show, Don't Tell Series, workshops, or resources like The Emotion Thesaurus and Writing Exercises, can help writers improve their storytelling skills and enhance their readers' experiences.
