What does show don\\\’t tell mean?
For
instance, Sam walked along the street toward his job interview. That’s
telling and pretty dull telling I’m sure you will agree. All the reader
has learned here is that Sam is walking along the street. There is no
scene? Is Sam angry, nervous, sad, upset, confused, happy, or
thoughtful? Some form of action need to be shown by using each or some
of the senses. Further, the reader neither knows whether Sam is male or
female since Sam could be short for Samantha. Let’s expand on this.
It
was a bitch of a day. A blistering hot British bitch of a day. Samuel,
or rather Sam as he is known, emerged from Oxford Street tube station
taking long casual strides, in the direction of his 2pm job interview.
He wondered why the bloody hell he was bothering as he simultaneously
calculated that it would take him about ten minutes to walk to his
destination. He intermittently ran the back of his hand across his
forehead, wiping the sweat that threatened to drip into his eyes as he
walked along the pavement side-stepping other pedestrians. This was
Vegas weather he thought as his throat felt parched from the heat.
He
turned into an office complex and checked the numbers on the buildings.
Soon he stood before the nondescript address and sighed with
resignation.
Now,
isn’t that much better? The above won’t necessarily win first prize,
but you will win brownie points with the reader who can now identify
more with this rather than: Sam walked along the street toward his job
interview.
And
remember, you don’t necessarily need to use all the senses at one given
time. You can spread them out through dialogue as well.
© 2008 Cherry-Ann Carew
Want to use or quote one of my articles in your E-zine, newsletter, and magazine or want me to write an article for your publication? No problem , simply contact me at: cherry@writercacarew.com
About the author
Cherry-Ann Carew is the former sports editor of Blaqsport
Journal and former freelance sports journalist for The Voice Newspaper in England.
She currently lives in the USA
and works as copyeditor and writing coach. See http://writercacarew.com for
more info
Tags: back of his hand, bitch, bloody hell, brownie points, carew, cherry ann, drip, e zine, forehead, former sports, job interview, oxford street, pavement, pedestrians, resignation, senses, sports editor, strides, tube station, vegas weather