Does anyone remember having to do show and tell in school? You'd bring in the object and have to do a little presentation for the class. Even the most obvious thing had to be told. We could just show. Now, I know it was all done with the laudable goal of improving public speaking skills, but I think it's really done something to crash and burn some growing writers.
I find I have a lot of problems with telling in my writing, really obvious, not at all subtle, this-is-what-I-want-you-to-know telling. And I not the only beginning writer I've seen struggle with this. We all seem to really like back story and adverbs and extraneous details. And, in a lot of cases, it gets old.
So, what do you think happened? Did we shoot ourselves in the foot? By trying to make good speakers did we accidentally make bad writers?
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Nah, I just think it's human nature to tell. It's part of our society. Look at all the newspapers and news stations. :D
ReplyDeleteJust go ahead and tell in your story and then go back when it's done and pick out the telling parts. Rewrite them to show. If you're like me, writing is a growing process where working in layers and learning about as you go along is all part of the game.