First I'm visiting with Anna Kathryn today if you want to skip on over and see what I have to say there.
My Mulligan Stew topic is SHOWING. While reading a short story this weekend,I ran across three instances where a conversation between two characters slipped into the main character's internal thoughts then it went: "she replied to his comment, "No I don't feel like riding."*
By leaving out what the other character said and just replying, the story was taken from showing the scene to telling the scene. If it is worth replying to, it is worth being in the scene, and therefore should be shown to the reader.
When a story is shown rather than told it draws the reader deeper into the story and engages their full attention.
Have you read stories that were told and found yourself losing interest? If you're a writer do you struggle with show vs tell?
2 comments:
I'm getting better ... I hope. I was trying to relay show vs. tell to someone else. It's so much easier to see in somebody else's work.
Mary, it is hard to explain, but by helping others it makes your writing stronger.
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