Overview
Telling uses vague or abstract language and weak verbs. Showing uses details and sensory and visual information to let the reader and allow her to interpret the situation for herself.
To strengthen your stories–whether text-bases, or visual, give the reader or viewer the sensory data needed to experience the story.
Basic Tips
- Use strong verbs: Don’t use walk or run, try dash, sprint, gallop, skip, amble.
- Create vivid images with specific nouns and adjectives. Don’t just tell us the boy hurt himself, say Timmy gashed his leg on the fence and limped home with his sneaker bloodied .
- Use sensory details—help the audience see, smell, hear, tastes, and feel the action or events
- Use dialogue: ‘“Don’t you walk out out on me!” Betty screeched, is better than Betty was upset.