Show and Tell

"Show, don't tell." I have heard that advice hundreds of times in the past few years as I work to develop my writing skills and hone my craft. For the longest time, I really struggled with what that meant. Show, don't tell. My first reaction always was, "I am showing...see?" Eventually, I got it and began developing a much clearer voice, showing my reader details about my characters through dialogue and action rather than simply listing them.

But why was it so hard for me to learn this simple concept? Why is it so difficult for others to grasp as well? Well, for starters, we all (most likely) grew up with a grade school tradition called 'Show and Tell' where we would bring something exciting or dear to us and share it with our classmates. Show and Tell. Depending on you level of self-esteem and extraversion, this event was either something you eagerly anticipated, or it was an event that inspired vivid nightmares, launched imaginary pandemics, and eventually led to wet pants in front of your peers.

For me, the showing part of Show and Tell was always the easiest; hold up the object for everyone to admire and bask in its radiance (ooh, ah) and then fight off the waves of jealousy emanating back from my class. Don't hate me for what I have.

What I really struggled with was the telling part. How do I convince my peers that this dingy, ragged, stuffed dog was actually my soul mate and confidant; the only person in this world with the patience to hear all my fears and insecurities? How do I convey the thought that this scrap of man-made materials with a missing eye and torn ear gives me the confidence to make it through another heart-stopping night filled with bogeymen and other assorted unseen monsters making strange noises throughout the house?

Please permit me to digress for a moment; the stress of the telling part of Show and Tell led me to develop the amazing ability to express my thoughts verbally in order to convince others to accept (or buy) what I was telling them...leading to the ability to sell anyone on my ideas. (Later, I would learn these were called features and benefits and the process was called consultative selling.)

My college literature classes and life in the corporate world added more lessons on telling versus showing. Myriad college professors wanted me to analyze the content to extract details and meaning without paying any particular attention to the methodology of how the author provided me the details and generated the meaning. In the corporate world, I would receive relentless barrages of "tell me what is going on" or " tell me the results" without anyone ever asking me to show them how I came to those details. Tell, tell, tell.

The only real-world application of showing I ever engaged in prior to launching my writing activities was photography. In this case, the old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" exemplifies the art of showing. Create the picture and let the critics and viewers tell you what they see.

For me, writing mirrors photography to the extent that my words create an image for my reader. These words are most effective and productive when they are transparent to the reader. This, to the credit of my teachers and mentors over the years, is accomplished best through the action and dialogue of my story.

So the next time you are faced with the comment, "Show, don't tell" let your words create a picture without telling your reader what is in the picture.