How to SHOW, DON'T TELL

We writers are always told to "SHOW, DON'T TELL." Anne Greene's blog for today, "Breathe Life into your Manuscript," SHOWS how this is done.

Here's an excerpt:

I discovered that in Very Deep POV, no thought or action is told. Everything is shown. So I couldn’t use words like wished, hoped, thought, felt, caused, watched, knew, wondered, realized, speculated, decided.

I couldn’t use wonderful verb phrases like happiness flashed through her, despair tugged at her, jealousy flattened her, love took her breath away.

I couldn’t write that she smiled with satisfaction, her skin prickled with fear, the explosion made her jump, the pollution caused her nose to itch, her heart beat fast with excitement. 

No. Emotion by emotion, each has to be shown, not told.


Click here to read the entire blog.

Great advice. Thanks, Anne!