Letters to Kel: SHOW, DON'T TELL ... THROUGH SCREENWRITING

[image error] Have you heard "Show, Don't Tell" so many times you want to scream?

Especially if you can't quite get the hang of showing what's going on in your characters' heads without simply saying (telling) what they're feeling, as in "Fred was furious"?

Write a screenplay.

It's not really that hard. And there are lots of places where you can get samples of screenplays to see the format (not that important, unless you decide you like the technique so much you want to try to write to sell ... which ain't that easy! First rule is to ALWAYS understand the formats, the mechanics, the rules for whatever genre or form of literature you are working in, like a cook needs to understand the tools and ingredients she uses.).

To write a screenplay, you need directions, you need minimal setting descriptions, and you need dialog. (Doing this will also solve a problem a lot of newer writers have: Setting the stage. They forget to say WHERE a scene takes place. All they give you is dialogue, until suddenly a character walks across the room, revealing they're indoors, and picks up a pan or a letter opener or a file or a pillow, giving some small clue where they are. Or worse, two people are talking, and suddenly a third person joins the conversation, and there was NO indication whatsoever a third person was there. When did he arrive? How many other people are there? Or suddenly it starts raining -- no indication of the weather. Etc. Etc. Ad nauseum. SET THE STAGE! Okay, mini snit fit over. On with the lesson ...)

A standard screenplay will tell you time of day (Day, Night, Noon, Dawn, etc.), if it is an exterior or interior scene, and the location. Then it will set the stage -- who is there, what does it look like. "Fred and Lisa walk through the door into an office that has been trashed."

A screenplay will NOT tell you, "Lisa looks around in horror, remembering how she used to come here with her father as a child and learned ..." whatever. A screenplay will say, essentially, "Lisa reacts." Then, it will give dialogue to reveal what she is thinking/feeling:

LISA:
This is awful! I can't believe what they did to this place! I remember when Daddy would bring me here, I was maybe eight. He would let me set up my own office in the corner and I would pretend to fill out invoices and answer the phone.

Why do I say write a screenplay to learn better how to show versus tell?
In screenwriting, you have to give the actors hints to how they feel, how they should act, through their ACTIONS and their WORDS, as in the above bit of dialogue. You have to leave the interpretation to the actors and the directions to the director.

If Lisa walked in, looked around, shrugged, and said, "Good riddance," would you think she is upset at the desecration of her last memories of her father? Uh .... no!

Just type "Screenplays" into your search engine, and you'll find a good assortment of places to get FREE copies of screenplays of your favorite movies. Download them, read them, STUDY them to see how it's done. Then apply those principles when you write a scene. Later, you can go back and insert  things like memories, feelings, thoughts, to flesh out what your characters are SHOWING through their actions and words.

In future posts, I'll talk about two screenplays I wrote a long time ago, that I am turning into books now. It's not as easy as it sounds -- but since I wrote them, easier than someone adapting someone else's screenplay into a novel. I know what I wanted the characters to think and feel as I was writing them. Inside knowledge is always a good thing!