Tips To Writing Memorable Descriptions 1: Show, don't Tell

1. Introduction: Hello and welcome to the Show, don't Tell course Overview. Show, don't Tell is an often overlooked and misunderstood aspect of writing. Yet, use it correctly and the quality of your writing, the depth of your description, and your readers' involvement in the story can't help, but improve. All making it a skill that's definitely worth learning. Which, surprisingly enough, is why I put together this course, complete with an explanation of the skill, a quiz and a variety of projects. So why not check out the course, have a go at the quiz and the projects, and then experiment with Show, don't Tell in your everyday writing. 2. Show, don't Tell Explained: Show, don't Tell is an interesting one and a confusing one quite often too. But get the hang of it and your writing will improve immediately. Show, don't Tell is one of those techniques that all writers who are serious about their craft should know. If you've heard of it before and yet never quite got your head around it or if you've never heard of it before, this is where you really need to listen. So there are two ways of describing what's happening in a story - you can Show it or you can Tell it. Showing is describing what you absorbed through your senses and allowing the reader to then make their own assumptions from what you're sharing with them. As in saying, 'I saw him smile,' and allowing your reader to then decide what his smiling actually meant. Telling, on the other hand, is absorbing the information and then sharing with the reader what your assumptions are from that information. As in, you saw him smile and said 'he was happy'. The reader then doesn't have to make their own assumption from what you saw, because you've made that assumption for them. In everyday life very few people come to you in simply state, 'I am happy' or 'I am sad'. You're more likely to look at them and notice how they move, how they talk, what they say and what look is on their face. These are the pieces of information that you absorb through your senses, and from them you then make your own assumption on how that person feels. From these you can tell if a person is happy, sad, tired, bored, excited, and so on. Just to clarify the technique a little bit more. Here's an example. If a book said 'Fred was happy', that would be Telling. Simply saying it's simple, straightforward and to the point. You are being told something directly from the information gathered by somebody else. You are being told somebody else's assumption. Showing, on the other hand, would be a sentence like, 'the smile on Fred's face was reflected in his eyes'. From that statement, you would instantly assume that Fred was happy, was smiling because he was happy. Or how about if you read, 'When he was almost out of sight, I noticed Fred jump slightly and click his heels'. Again, you would assume, presumably, that Fred was happy. These sentences tell us that, but at the same time, they're sharing a bit of information about friend's character. Maybe the second Fred is trying to hide his emotions more than in the first. So maybe his shy but can't contain his happiness, or maybe he's just more athletic than the first Fred. Each sentence shows us so much more than Fred was simply happy. They are also subtle and smooth. Each one adds more characterization and depth without using direct statements. In the first draft of your story you might simply choose to write. 'Fred was happy', or 'Fred happily did something'. But as you flesh out your story and everything becomes more three dimensional includes his , including his character. Make sure you choose to Show. So if a story is retelling life, wouldn't it make more sense that it would replicate the way that we also behave in life? This is what Showing is. The writer gives the reader enough information for them to make their own decision about things especially, the subtleties of the story. Unlike Telling, which is stating the information and denying the reader the chance to make their own choices. As a writer the ability to Show, rather than Telling, enables the depth of your description, characterization, honesty, realism, in fact almost everything, to be stronger. And it is as simple as that. It really is Show, rather than Tell, and your writing will improve. There is, of course, always one exception to the rule, and that is that not all young children have learned to read body language or are able to make assumptions from what they feel see and sense around them. Therefore, if you're writing for young children, you might choose to Tell rather than Show or even use a mixture of both styles. But other than that, I would always say, where possible, unless it comes across as clumsy and awkward, Show, don't Tell. Showing is just one more skill and technique to add to all the others a writer can do. But it's one of those techniques that will make a lot the difference. It will instantly make you appear more experienced and confident. How about that? A skill that will make you look like you've been writing for years, even if you only started it seriously last month. So spend time playing with your descriptions and see what you can come up with. It might take a while to get a good handle on it, but try nonetheless. I expect the outcome will make you smile. And just to make things a bit easier, here some exercises that you might want to try. Watch people, see how they behave, because everybody behaves slightly differently in different situations. Just as people's emotions Show differently. And as a writer, it's worth recognizing traits for possible use later. Whilst watching, define what triggers your assumptions. Is there one trait that makes you think one thing about person regardless of all their other behaviors. Why not read back over your writing and highlight where you Tell and don't Show? Then play with the words and see how you can Show instead. See if there is more you can add to the story. Also, by Showing in one spot you can quite possibly delete Telling or unnecessary descriptions elsewhere. Hopefully, that's made everything a lot clearer, but also given you something else to think about. Have fun with that. Play with it. Just see what works and where you end up. 3. Quiz: Hi and welcome to the Show, don't Tell Quiz. I hope you have fun with it. - So How did you go? I'd love to hear how you got on. Don't forget to put your results in the comments section. 4. Project (Beginner): And here you go Show, don't Tell project number one. Well, there you go. Don't forget to check out my course on using your senses if you need a bit of extra. 5. Project (Intermediate): Welcome back. Here's the Show, don't Tell project number two. So what do you think? You want to try the advance project as well? 6. Project (Advanced): Welcome back, Here's project number three. Well, there you go. I hope you enjoyed those projects, and I'd love to see your favourite sentence if you care to share it on the course's Project section.