How do you improve your descriptive muscles?
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| "Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light..." -Anton Chekhov |
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Edie
Edie
I learned early in my journey to show and not tell. I love to bring my readers on a visual journey with me. So I simply refuse (well let's say rarely, since there are times when telling is better) to use words like saw, looked, and felt. I had some really good early crit partners who drilled that into me! lol
ReplyDeleteLike Ane Mulligan, I learned early to show not tell. The technique that works for me is to show the story world through the POV character's eyes, not mine. Each POV character will see the world differently. This helps my story in three ways--I can show the story world from different perspectives; these different perspectives helps me to deepen the characterization; and the different perspectives force me to be creative, to avoid cliched and static descriptions.
ReplyDeleteShowing is one of the most important components to a well told story, in my opinion. You can have a great plot and wonderful characters, but if the author tells the story, it can fall flat in comparison to a story that is well shown. Telling leaves the reader on the outside of the story. Showing thrusts him or her right into the midst of it.
ReplyDeleteI am on my frail wobbly learning legs with writing, but as a DJ I have speak in pictures to my listeners. One of the ways that has helped this is by sharing an emotion in my description. I am so delighted to read everyone's answers here. I feel like I am growing already.
ReplyDelete"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light..." -Anton Chekhov. I like this quote very much. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete