Hello, writers. I must say you guys wrote some brilliant stuff last week, including some absolutely terrifying Least Grebes and some swell Froops.
We’ve talked in the past about show-don’t-tell and about an equally important rule: tell-don’t-show. (Sometimes you have to tell, not show, in order to avoid writing a story that unfolds in real-time and is 800,000 words long.)
But let’s look at show-don’t-tell. What are some of the ways you can “show” a point you want to make?
Here are a few that occur to me:
-Have two characters relay the point in believable dialogue (without
as-you-know-Bobs)
-Have one character make great efforts to avoid revealing the point.
-Show a viewpoint character remembering a particular event/conversation/legend/limerick at a particular moment.
-Show someone behaving in a way that indicates the point.
-Show numerous people – perhaps unnamed non-characters—behaving in a way that indicates the point.
-Use the scenery or other inanimate props to make the point, perhaps by creating a mood. (We’ve done this before when, for example, we wrote descriptions of a scene immediately before the murder victim is found.)
What are some other ways you can show, not tell?
Tonight’s challenge: Last week found two of our favorite characters, the Callow Youth and his/her Stout Companion, approaching a Dark Tower. This week, I hope you will attempt almost the same challenge… with a slight change.
A callow youth and his/her stout companion find that their search for the Jewel of Togwogmagog had brought them, inexorably, to the lair of the dread Least Grebe. They are armed only with the Duffel Bag of Least Resistance. As the two heroes approach the tower…
…your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to show us that the Callow Youth doesn’t trust his/her Stout Companion.
(PS-- If you've grown too attached to the Stout Companion to do this, then I guess you could, instead, show that neither of 'em trusts Froop.)
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