I have a lot of respect for short story writers because I can’t do what they do. I just don’t have a mind for it. Unless I’m given a specific prompt, as I was in my fiction workshops, I just can’t come up with good ideas. And I’ve also read a lot of great short stories. Amy Hempel is an amazing writer. The story Brad Carrigan, American by George Saunders is absolutely fantastic, as is anything else by George Saunders. David Foster Wallace has also produced some incredibly memorable work. My point is, I think that I’m going to try to write a short story. And I think I’m going to title it “Extracurricular Activities for Zebras.” Don’t ask why, because it’s a long story. It came out of a conversation with a friend of mine. (I miss you, Adrian.)
All that said, I’m going to talk a little about Show Don’t Tell today, thanks to a kind comment that was left on my last post.
I always hated Show Don’t Tell because I didn’t understand what it meant. Various people tried to explain it to me, and I still couldn’t wrap my head around the idea. My mind just kept flashing back to preschool Show and Tell when I would put an arbitrary item on display for my class and tell them why it mattered.
I don’t remember when I finally figured out what Show Don’t Tell means, or how I figured it out. I think I might have done it on my own, but there’s a good chance my best friend explained it to me in a way that I finally understood. The reason I’m talking about this now, by the way, is because of my last post on romance. It was essentially a really long way of saying “Show the romance, don’t tell it.”
It really is a hard thing to define. Even now I’m having trouble putting it into words. I suppose, if your narrator is saying things like, “Sally finally understood why she had to quit her job. It had taken her a long time, but she had come to the conclusion that her job was killing her, and that she would truly be free to live her life if she quit” then that’s too much telling. Showing Sally’s new understanding of her work situation is different. It could be shown through dialogue, like:
Bossman: Sally, I need you to do a bunch of different things for me by five minutes ago, and also I think you’re inferior to me because you are a woman.
Sally: You know what, Bossman? I quit.
And then you could follow it up with some emotion. Not, “Sally felt so much better. Everything seemed a little brighter. She wished she’d quit years ago” because that’s still Telling. But something like, “Sally smiled as she walked out of the office. Several of her coworkers watched, mouths agape, as she strolled out of the building. Some of them even looked envious. Sally took a deep breath of fresh air, and yadda yadda…” It’s not the best writing ever, but I hope I’ve illustrated the concept understandably anyway.
Word of the Day: Compunction (n) – a feeling of uneasiness or anxiety of the conscience caused by regret for doing wrong or causing pain; contrition; remorse.
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