“Show, Don’t Tell!” is stated over and over again in writing books and at writers’ conferences. But what do those words really mean?
Often on first rough drafts, writers tell the story in a narrative form either from an observer’s viewpoint or from the main character’s mind. Both of these locations are boring. Readers want to participate in the action. They want to experience the events that occur as they are happening. They want to crawl inside the skin of the main character and feel what he or she is feeling. They want to hear what he is saying and what is being said to him. Thus, whether you are writing fiction or a true personal experience story, action and dialogue become the vehicles to move your story along and to keep your readers interested in reading your story.
This concludes the nine-part series on “Writing from the Heart.”