Secret Attic
  • Home
  • Short Story Contests
    • Results
  • Weekly Write
    • WW Stories
    • WW Results
  • Long Short Story
    • RESULTS
  • Picture This
  • League Table
  • Secret Attic Booklets
  • Articles on Writing
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Feedback (Members Area)
  • Home
  • Short Story Contests
    • Results
  • Weekly Write
    • WW Stories
    • WW Results
  • Long Short Story
    • RESULTS
  • Picture This
  • League Table
  • Secret Attic Booklets
  • Articles on Writing
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Feedback (Members Area)

How to Show and Not Tell

31/1/2021

0 Comments

 
Many writers get confused over the difference between showing and telling a story. And before they understand the difference, will argue that one thing is the other, especially when it comes to their own writing.

Writers tell stories, the argument goes, so how can a writer do anything but 'tell' his or her own story. By definition surely, any kind of 'showing' is 'telling' in disguise.

Don't you just love semantics? You can argue pretty much anything with words - when you know how to use them.

The fundamental point is that writers don't actually tell stories - or shouldn't. The characters tell the stories. The writer is merely a conduit for the characters.

It wasn't always this way - and I think this is where the confusion lies.

At school we're taught that people like Homer, Dickins and O Henry are great storytellers, which they are, but that doesn't mean they knew all the secrets to writing great fiction.

Fiction works best when there is no author present in the text.

One of the reasons why so many people still read Sherlock Holmes stories around a hundred years after they were written is because the stories are told, not by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - even though on a literal level we know he wrote them, but by Watson, the great detective's assistant.

Using a character in your own fiction to tell the story is one of the great literary techniques hiding in plain sight to wannabe writers.

Similarly, The Great Gatsby is not told by Fitzgerald, but by Nick, the long suffering friend of the eponymous hero.

New writers often find it difficult to separate themselves from their own stories. They will write pages and pages of exposition from the omnipresent authorial perspective. And no matter how good the writing may be, readers will for the most part be unimpressed - and not know why...

It's about identification.

Readers generally do not want to identify with writers - only other writers do that.

No, readers want to identify with characters. They want to be those characters and vicariously experience the character's high and lows while journeying through a story.

Without compelling character identification, your stories are dead in the water.

In many ways show don't tell is about technique - but it's also a crucial mindset that the fiction writer needs to acquire - and often does with an epiphany or straightforward light-bulb moment.

Funny thing is, once you 'get' it, you'll wonder why you never wrote that way before - and will mostly likely be embarrased by your previous efforts.

Then you'll know how all the bestselling authors of our modern (and more enlightened) age pull off the feat of showing and not telling stories, to such great effect.

For instance, despite everything we are taught or led to believe, Shakespeare is not 'in' any of his plays. He may well have acted as one of the characters on stage but nowhere are his voice or opinions or issues overtly stated as a character in the plays.

In fact one of the reasons why the real Shakespeare is such an illusive identity is that his characters express equally compelling arguments for diametrically opposed points of view - as should all great authors.

Transparent objectivity, deliberately constructed empathy and a reader's willing suspension of disbelief are crucial elements to understanding why fiction works at all.

Because as soon as a reader, or viewer or audience member becomes aware that the author or screenwriter or playwright is speaking to them through the book, film or performance, then the writer has failed - majorly - in his or her function as a storyteller.

And if the above paragraph confuses you - or you don't see the relevance of the argument - then my guess is that you're still struggling with 'show don't tell.'

Being a writer is not just about having something to say. It's about learning how to say it effectively.

I was at an interview yesterday where three authors were asked about writing and what advice they'd give to new writers.

They were unanimous on three points.

1. Write every day.

2. Writing something bad is better than writing nothing.

And most importantly,

3. Keep learning as much as you can about writing.

Your apprenticeship as a writer is never over. You can never learn too much nor hear good advice too often.

It's when you think you know it all - or don't think you need to listen to what other good and great writers advise - then you stop being the best writer you can be.

And your reader will somehow, mysteriously, know that.


Keep writing!

(c) Rob Parnell
WRITING ACADEMY
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    10 Quick Tips For Writers
    10 Tips For Better Writing
    4 Phases Of Wisdom
    7 Writing Muse Kickers
    Achieve Writing Goals
    Awesome Endings
    Baring Your Soul
    Barking At Shadows
    Can't Write?
    Character Questionnaire
    Choosing A Title
    Competitive & Cutthroat
    Creative Writing That Sells
    Developing An Idea
    Don't Look Back
    Effective Back Blurbs
    Erotic Books Genre
    Excuses
    Factors To Consider
    Finding Your Inspiration
    Finding Your Unique Voice
    Follow Your Instincts
    From Idea To Story/Novel
    Ghost Writing
    Give Them Some Attitude
    How Are You Plotting?
    Ideas
    Ideas: How To Have Them
    Ideas & Plagiarism
    If In Doubt Leave It Out
    Is Your Title Compelling?
    Kick Start Stories
    Life Long Sentence
    Made This Mistake?
    Narrative V Dialogue
    Narrative Vs Dialogue
    On Being A Modern Writer
    On Character Creation
    On Patience & The Writer
    Outlining Vs Story Telling
    Plot And Characters
    Plotting Before Writing
    Radio & Writing
    Reading Other Books
    Reinforcing The Theme
    Research & Writing
    Secondary Characters
    Self Promotion Tips
    Show Don't Tell
    Stories That Sell
    Story Got A Theme?
    Take Baby Steps
    Theme Contents
    Theme In Short Stories
    The Writer's Mind
    Title Reflect The Story?
    Travel Writing
    What Can Go Into A Plot?
    Who's Your Antagonist?
    Why Fiction Matters
    Write Engaging Fiction
    Write For Free?
    Write For Your Readers
    Write Stories For Children
    Writing A Novel
    Writing A Novel Quickly
    Writing Science Fiction
    Writing Workshops
    Your Mother Should Know

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020

Secret Attic - Founded March 2020