Part 1: The basics of writing
Do you know the ultimate, go-to rule of writing? Do you know what can cause an awesome plot to be substandard? Do you know your job as a writer, is to do this one, little rule?
Show, don’t tell.
There, I said it. The most important rule in writing is:
Show, don’t tell.
If you’re in love with research, like me, you’ve probably came across this term one time or another. If not, you better learn this rule, metaphorically tattoo it on your hand so you never forget it, and live your writer’s life with it.
Show, don’t tell.
So what does this mean, exactly? I’ll show some examples for you to get the idea.
(Example from the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins)
This is an example of telling (this does not appear in the published version)
“Gale knew that Katniss was a great hunter. He though she had a chance to succeed in the Hunger Games if she could only get her head around the idea of killing people. After all, she’d killed many animals. But Katniss was afraid of going up against people who were armed and trying to kill her, people capable of anticipating her hunting strategies.”
Showing, as it appears in the final published version of the Hunger Games.
“Katniss, it’s just hunting. You’re the best hunter I know,” says Gale.
“It’s not just hunting. They’re armed. They think.” I say.
“So do you. And you’ve had more practice. Real practice,” he says. “You know how to kill.”
“Not people,” I say.
“How different can it be, really?” says Gale grimly (p. 40)
Does that help show what this rule is? (I’m going to keep using show in this explanation, by the way.) Another big rule of writing is to not make it sound like writing. That’s right, you’re not supposed to sound like you’re writing. See, showing is natural, and it lets the reader’s come to the conclusion without having you just tell them what it is. Telling gets in the way of the flow of the story, insults the reader’s intelligence by explaining everything and not letting the readers find their way to your implications in the story on their own. And insulting your reader’s intelligence is never a nice thing.
Telling is flat and forgettable.
I have a new character for you. Her name is Tamar. She likes to play on computers, but she wants to be a doctor when she grows up. She doesn’t notice things when she’s on the computer, and it gets her in trouble a lot. But she prefers to be on the computer, so she can talk to her friends.
Can you imagine a story written about Tamar that’s told this way? We never really learn a lot about her, because of the narrative that the story is. A girl on the computer who IMs (or Facebooks these days) could describe a number of people, and none of them memorably. But suppose instead of writing that, the author wrote this:
The phone blared next to Tamar’s desk, but she didn’t answer it. Her Farmville account hadn’t been taken care of in ten minutes, and now the farm was going down the drain. She had to buy a few more cows…but oh! A brown chicken was discovered on her farm! She clicked for it to be adopted by someone on her home page.
“Tamar Ann!” Her mother was right behind her, shaking Tamar out of her stupor. “I have been calling you to pick up the phone, and you didn’t listen! That was an important business call and I couldn’t answer it because I was carrying up your laundry!”
“Sorry,” Tamar said, her eyes drifting back to the computer screen.
“Tamar Ann, it’s about time you turn off that computer.”
What have we learned through this? Comment what you’ve learned below!
Showing and not telling is a huge subject, one that cannot be fully explained in one article. I shall be back to write more about it later!
Thanks for reading! Comment below or fan to get more in this series. If you have any questions, let me know!
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Non-FictionA simple, easy to understand tool to help improve your writing. This is more aimed towards those who want to make something of themselves by writing, rather than a just how-to write on Wattpad. Note: This was originally published in 2013.
