Mental Library: Show and Tell

Hello, Friends!

Today, we are going to play a little game called "Show and Tell." Our game might be a little different than the one you played in elementary school, though.

In order to play this game, we need to know what showing and telling are.

Telling: Explaining what happened.

• Example: Andre was cold.

Showing: Demonstrating what happened.

• Example: Shivering, Andre wrapped his coat tighter around him.

This is a vital concept in any creative writing. If all your story read: Andre was tired. He had been swimming for hours, and it was nice to finally be in his room. . . ., you would have a very boring story. Your story might be okay, and have lots of good qualities, but the actual writing would not be good.

If, though, your story read: Andre's brain was already asleep as he stretched his sore muscles. The comforting mess of his room somehow penetrated his drowsiness, and made him sigh. He grabbed his pajamas, shaking the last water drops off his hair. He couldn't shake the scent of the chlorine off, though. Nowadays, he always smelled like it. . . ., that not only gets your point across, but is better, more wholesome, and more realistic writing.

Okay, now I have a few exercises for you to try:

Exercise 1: Determine which statements are showing and which are telling. S for show, T for tell.

1. Andre hated running.
2. Andre glared at his coach. Why did they have to run?
3. (Those were easy. Now, here are some harder ones.)
4. Andre loved being in the water. He loved feeling weightless, being surrounded by water, moving through the water like a fish. He loved his breath pattern in the water, so natural he felt like he was breathing underwater.
5. Andre's body was too tense. He took a few deep breaths, ignoring his rioting stomach. The whistle startled Andre, and he jerkily stepped up. 
6. The horn beeped, and Andre dove.
7. After the race, Andre's mom congratulated him on placing sixth.
8. Andre's parents were the best. It was so nice they took him out for pie whenever he improved his time.
9. When the server came, Andre didn't even have to look at his menu. The combination of chocolate and cream was paralleled by none in the world.

All right, next exercise. (The answers for this one are at the end.)

Exercise 2: Switch the statement. If the statement is telling, switch it to showing, and vice versa.

1. Andre's next doodle depicted a man with a lightning bolt chasing a swimmer. Of all days, why did he have to work with Eric today? It's as if someone wants to ruin my day, he thought.
2. Andre's favorite stroke was freestyle. (Front crawl.)
3. (Okay, here are harder ones.)
4. Eric was a bully. To make it worse, he was also on the swim team, and faster than Andre, and he never passed up a chance to bully anyone slower than him.
5. Andre made clear sections for each point of the project, and when his teacher came by, she smiled. "I didn't even think of adding statistics, or visuals, or, well, everything not on the rubric. Good job."
6. Andre grinned. Even though he had to work on research with Eric, he forgave his teacher. She always appreciated his hard work, and was always thinking of fun projects for his class to do. Andre hoped he had her again next year.

Of course, some telling is good in stories, but all telling is bad. We tend to do more telling than showing, so hopefully these exercises help you.

Have fun!

By the way, here are the answers.

Spruce Nogard

Attributions: https://pixabay.com/en/swimming-competition-swimmers-pool-659903/