Are you a writer and the phrase “show don’t tell” is driving you crazy? You read the phrase in books on writing and your teachers and professors are constantly telling you to “show don’t tell”. What exactly are they talking about?
To put it simply, they want you to get your characters moving. They want you to get your characters inter-acting. They don’t want you to write so much about what your characters are thinking and feeling but they want you to write about what your characters are “doing and saying”. They want action. And remember that good dialogue is action, too.
The stories in the sidebar on the right under “Great Flash Fiction Stories To Read” are full of action.
Marriage On A Hot Day In Pittsburgh
June 6, 2009 — pittsburghflashfictiongazetteI just came from my walk through the park down by the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. There was a wedding party at Heinz Chapel. A single bagpiper played, the men in suits and many of the women in long dresses. I couldn’t see the bride and the groom. Many of the dresses of the women were bright colors, summer colors.
Then I walked past Mellon Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. Another wedding party was standing against the tall pillars having their pictures taken.
I never married. I wished the new brides and grooms and the family of each couple much luck. They are going to need it.