Giving Directions

Welcome to wwwblogs—a discussion on current trends in writing, be they good or bad. Today, we’re going to be talking about stage directions.
One of the first lessons an author learns is that we “show don’t tell.” Lately, though, many authors are telling after showing. In other words, they’re resorting to stage directions in order to “help” the reader understand what’s going on.
My inner editor always screams when this happens. The author in question has forgotten rule number one when it comes to showing a story—Trust Your Reader—and they are now telling them where the story goes rather than moving the plot forward. There will be paragraph after paragraph parsing each element of the first paragraph, so the reader knows what every character is doing, how the weather is in minute detail, and the location down to the last brass tack. In fact, by the time the reader finishes all these stage directions, they’ve lost the point of the original paragraph and are hopelessly lost.
Show don’t tell isn’t just an expression bandied about by successful authors to let new writers know how to put their story into words. This is an ironclad rule we live by. The great stories are shown. There is no telling to them. Experienced authors learned from their early editors, or from critique groups, how to do this instinctively. New authors are still learning this process. The biggest thing you need to remember is this—if you think you have to explain everything with stage directions, you haven’t shown what’s happening well enough. Instead of telling the reader all about what’s happening, rework your paragraph where you showed the action and make it clearer.



Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair game when plotting a new story.  


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