Thank you, Faith Hunter!

Like most writers, I have had the "Show Don't Tell" mantra pulsing in my brain for as long as I can remember. Sometimes it intertwines with the lyrics to the song "Show Me"  from the musical My Fair Lady.

I can't even read a published novel without periodically exclaiming (usually silently): "Hey, that's a lot of telling instead of showing! How come the author got away with that? Who published this book?!?!"

Recently I came across an article by fantasy author Faith Hunter called "Show, Don't Tell -- Conveying Emotion." It's one of the most useful articles I have seen so far on the subject, especially given that I'm writing a fantasy novel at the moment!

Faith points out that not only do we need to "show, not tell," we need to avoid using worn-out phrases or crutches to do so. She gives examples of crutches, including:

• "She chewed her lips."
• "He shuffled his feet."
• "He sighed."

Faith then proceeds to give an example of a "Bad Scene with too much telling" and a "Better scene," after which she breaks down that "Better scene," explaining why it's better.

What I'm going to do here is quote a list that Faith provided in answer to one of the comments on the article. I will preface the list with the following quotes from Faith:

"Anything done to excess becomes a crutch."

"A good writer never uses just one device at a time, or one part of a scene for only one purpose. A good writer blends them to create a total that is much more than the sum of the parts."

And now, the list.

"Emotion can be demonstrated with:

• Physical stage direction
• Dialogue
• Things happening in the same scene but which are not actually a part of the main action
• Inner monologue
• Narrative
• Dialogue at cross purposes" *

* Two characters discuss two different things, but neither realizes that.

I encourage you to read the entire article HERE . And while you're at it, check out the whole Magical Words site!