With pride, Christine clipped coupons from the newspaper before she went shopping. She checked for the best prices online. She would never be caught paying too much for anything.
When it came to writing, she followed a similar philosophy, endorsing the idea that her first thoughts were most likely the best. They were, at least, the easiest. She could see no reason to expend more effort when less would do.
One day, she read an article titled “Show, Don’t Tell” and decided she needed to do more than tell what happened, which was stating a judgment about how the character felt. But since she wanted writing to be easy, she decided to practice a process that might help her “show” her character’s emotional journey.
She began with a simple “telling” sentence, describing how her character felt.
Tim was unhappy.
If readers were to experience the emotion, she needed to show what his unhappiness looked like. What were his actions? She reviewed her mental picture, looking for the actions, expressions, and conditions that would cause readers to see Tim’s unhappiness.
Tim looked at his broken bicycle wheel and cried.
This was better. Probably good enough, but if she wanted “showing” descriptions to come naturally, she needed to do more practice. How could she make the picture stronger? Again she reviewed her mental image and rewrote what she saw.
With one look at his bicycle wheel, Tim bent over to the ground and bawled.
Better, but could she do more? In a single sentence, how could she make the picture show more emotion? If she begged her brain for an idea and waited for a moment, a new thought might come to mind. Sure enough, it did.
With one look at his twisted bicycle wheel, Tim wiped a tear, bent over to touch the broken spokes, and whimpered like a puppy.
Christine already felt like she was a better writer, but she needed more practice. Maybe she needed to spend fifteen minutes each Monday, starting with a simple “telling” sentence and working to show what those conditions looked like. She wrote another sentence and then worked to improve it.
Janet was worried about her appearance.
Janet flipped her hair over her shoulder and tried to make the worrisome curl go back to where it belonged.
Janet straightened her dress and stood erect, leaning her head slightly, with a smile she hoped looked genuine.
After straightening her dress and teetering on her high heels, with a smile she hoped looked genuine, she stood tall and confident, turning her head slightly, letting her hair drift like waves over her shoulders.
The more she practiced the process, the easier it became. And that was the goal, because she was a smart shopper, eager to get the best value for the lowest cost.
