One of the most common pitfalls writers are told to avoid is telling instead of showing. As a newbie writer, I've spent my fair share of time reading and listening to Real Writers offer advice and let me tell you -- if I had a nickel for every time I heard the phrase "show, don't tell", I could afford to stay home and write full time by now. So, great. I get it. Show, don't tell.
But what does that really mean?
I knew the obvious example: Saying that your main characters had an argument is telling; writing the argument out on the page, including the characters reactions, pulling in the five senses, etc. is showing. This post from C. E. Murphy illustrated some of the finer points for me -- such as how the sentence, "His heart pounded and he heaved for air."** is still a form of telling, not showing.
*headdesk*
**Um, yeah, I have no idea how to punctuate that sentence properly. If anyone knows the proper comma placement, etc. for including a full sentence within a sentence, please share in the comments.
2 comments:
I think you're technically supposed to use a semi colon. Or some other non-conjunction psuedo verb thing like. His heart pounded as he heaved for air.
But then again any writing training I have is of the technical nature, were we ruthlessly get rid of word unless that have super important meaning, or are obsure enough to hide the fact that they don't have meaning...we use alot of semi colons
:)
Ha! Thanks. :)
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