Don't Tell.
Show.
by
C. Neuroticus
Absolutus
In
search of the genius who was first to say, “Don't tell, show,” I
found myriad entries on Google, but couldn't pin down a single
originator, perhaps because I wasn't sure it was worth going through
the 340,000,000 hits Google came up with in .19 seconds. I'd heard or
read somewhere that Anton Chekhov was responsible for this construct
of modern writing, so I Googled him next. The closest I could come to
pinning the blame on Chekhov was one of his quotes: “Don't tell me
the moon is shinning, show me the glint on broken glass.”
Romantically descriptive. I'd ask Mr. Chekhov what he really meant,
but sadly he died on July 15th,
1904, 109 years ago. After 109 years, is Mr. Chekhov still worthy of
emulating? First, we must consider that Chekhov was Russian, so there
is the translation from Russian to consider as well as the changes in
culture, customs and habits from one society to another, and more
than a century separating our work from his. With such dynamic
activities as writing and language, it is amazing that Mr. Chekhov's
109-year-old proposal hasn't long been replaced by some other craze.
Or has it?
As
with the masterminds of any invention, Mr. Chekhov has a multitude of
critics, including me, if he is truly the one responsible for this
journalistic revolution. James Scott Bell tackles some of the
conundrums of Show vs Tell in Chapter 8 of his book Revision
& Self-Editing. Grammar Girl, in her
infinite and web-based teaching of everything we should have learned
in high school, has similar views concerning the application of the
Show vs Tell.
It's not that this guideline isn't suitable for writing
some literary genres, for it is. If your are writing an action packed
spy novel, a shoot 'em up western, a lively adventure ala
the Indiana
Jones series or a blood-dripping vampire horror story, strong verbs
and showing vis a vie telling
are certainly a good choice. Note that I said a good choice, not the
only choice. More about that later. Suffice to remember for now that
showing
is the realm of high-powered, stimulating action verbs. At least that
is what writers have come to believe that Don't
tell, Show
means. But take a look back at Chekhov's original statement:. What
does Chekhov's, “Don't tell me the moon is shinning, show me the
glint on broken glass,” really mean? Where is his high-powered,
stimulating action verb? Well, maybe that's not what Chekhov had in
mind after all. “. . .the moon is shinning . . .” is a rather
hum-drum observation. To paraphrase Chekhov, “Give the reader a
hint of the effect of moonlight on the scene and let his imagination
enjoy the discovery.”
For example, what if you're writing a romance novel, a
travelogue, fantasy, sci-fi or literary fiction? Along these paths of
discovery, appreciative readers will gladly slow down in order to
sense the passion of a young lover's first kiss, feel the immensity
of the Great Pyramid of Giza, visualize the horror or beauty of an
alien life form, or enjoy a description of traveling the scenic Blue
Ridge Parkway in spring. And more, to appreciate a turn of phrase, a
rhythmic passage, an alluring alliteration, to follow the writer in
probing the depths of a scientific investigation or a spiritual
revelation. In such writing, adjectives and adverbs are appropriate
and appreciated for adding flavor, texture, taste, insight, color,
and feeling to the words we ingest from the page.
Even within the
paragraphs and pages of the same book, there is room to accommodate
both Show and Tell
as partners in bringing a story to life, just as a mixture of nouns,
pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, interjections,
and conjunctions are necessary ingredients of a sentence.
Now I'll show
you a story. Consider the following fictional situation:
In the final minute of the fifteenth round, Ruffian Ralph beat Boxer
Bob furiously. Bob's legs wobbled, weakened. He shuffled around the
ring, his tired arms barely able to fend off Ruffian's murderous
attacks. Time and again, Ruffian penetrated Bob's defenses, swinging
for a knock out. With each punch, torrents of sweat jumped from Bob's
tortured body.
Bob fought back, struggled to overcome the pain that encompassed his
entire being. He swung hard, mindlessly trading devastating punches,
standing toe to toe with Ruffian. Renewed strength erupted from
somewhere within and from each excited scream from the crowd. He
heard them through the fog in his mind. He landed a solid right hook
and suddenly it was his name that rocked the arena. “Bob! Bob!
Bob!”
He sucked in a large breath of air and backed Ruffian to the ropes,
landing punches at will. A viscous uppercut lifted Ruffian off his
feet and he collapsed on the canvas. “One! Two! Three! . . . .”
The referee shrieked.
Bob dragged himself to his corner and hung on the ropes.
“. . . Nine! TEN!” The referee 's count was lost in the crowd's
cheers. He beckoned Bob from his corner and raised his gloved hand in
victory.
Compare that with the following paragraph where I'll tell you
the same story.
In the bout between Ruffian Ralph and Boxer Bob this evening, Boxer
Bob withstood everything Ruffian threw at him until the last minute
of the fifteenth round when Bob came to life and landed the winning
uppercut that gave him the championship and the middleweight title.
It's a summary in a single sentence, like a hurried TV news
broadcaster trying to file the report before the next commercial.
If you're like me, you prefer the first story, the blow by blow
account unfolds like watching Rocky Balboa in the Rocky film series.
Also, please note that showing in this instance, takes more
time, more space on the page. This is usually the case. Although the
readers get the same basic information, showing provides
descriptive details and permits time for not only tension to develop,
but lets the characters and the story captivate their minds.
Telling, in it's most basic form, is perhaps best epitomized
by the old Dragnet TV series
where detective Joe Friday wants, “Just the facts, Ma'am, just the
facts.”
But don't make the mistake of
insisting that every passage be some action-packed drama. Give the
reader a moment to rest. Narration, while telling,
is a welcome rest for the reader and can move the story line forward
at the same time. Choose a few adjectives and adverbs and sprinkle
them judiciously while the reader rests in preparation for the next
exciting bout of showing.
Chekhov is also connected to the modernist movement called the stream
of consciousness, a
literary style in which the reader is exposed to the ongoing
thoughts, the emotional and psychological processes of the
characters; it's often called the interior
monologue.
Every thought of one or more characters is presented to permit the
reader to analyze what is going through the character's mind and
understand what drives his actions, even though the character's
thoughts may jump to completely unrelated subjects in the middle of
this silent soliloquy. This style is like showing
on
meth and steroids.
Not
a single detail is considered too insignificant to include; but as
the wealth of detail provided the reader is at first interesting, it
quickly becomes overwhelming and counterproductive in advancing the
story line. The best advice is to use interior monologue sparingly
and to stay on subject. Some of the better known writers who have
dared and succeeded in using this style are Virginia Woolf in To
the Lighthouse,
James Joyce in Ulysses
and William Faulkner in The
Sound and the Fury.
Bastard shot me The
sonovabitch shot me in the stomach God that hurts Oh Christ look
at all the blood on my shirt Where is he now Where's my gun My turn,
damn you Get up Get up dammit My friggin legs won't move Gotta move
He's gonna to kill me Is this how Dad felt when that yellow commie
shot him in Korea It was winter then, cold and wet when he was shot
Damned near froze to death he told us kids. He used to tell us that
story all the―shit
There he is He's pointing his gun at me again. Get down Get down
Don't want to be shot again. Billy and me used to play G.I. Joe and
we'd pretend to shoot each other and take turns falling down dead
just like this but there weren't no blood Has anyone called an
ambulance Where's the ambulance I need help A paramedic Look at all
the blood I've Mom would whup me for all the blood I got on my shirt
I see you there you dirty bastard Shoot him Shoot him quick There I
got him I think I hit him. I don't think that deer I took last year
bled this much A twelve pointer Looks good in the den Marie said
she'd divorce me if I hung it there How many shots have I taken How
much ammo do I have left Dad was real mad at me when he had to call
911 to rush me to the hospital that time when Am I gonna live Dear
God don't let me die Wait did he just move I thought I got him Shoot
him before you die Shoot the bastard. Kill him Oh Jesus please send
an ambulance. Hasn't anyone called Is that you Billy Help me Billy
Billy are you there
As you can see, stream
of consciousness isn't for me. What I've learned is not to
tell
you I've fallen. I'll just show
you the bruises on my ass.
There.
I think I've got the hang of it.
