Woman As Art
I like the way that sounds: “Flash Fiction As Cinema.” It’s as good as “Show Don’t Tell.” And in the mind of the Old Soldier, they both mean the same thing.
Since we flash fiction writers have to depend so much on the imagination of the reader to complete our stories, we have to do everything we can to help the reader to see (and to hear) what is going on in our stories. Thus, the best flash fiction is cinematic; the best flash fiction is show don’t tell writing.
But exactly how can a writer actually help the reader to see or hear his or her short story?
Short Story Writing Workshop (Photo credit: MadLabUK)
Well, first of all, the writer should concentrate on what the characters do and say. That will go a long way in helping the reader to see and hear the story. Add to this a healthy dose of concrete sense perceptions of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch (all when appropriate) through a viewpoint character and you as the author have gone a long ways toward show don’t tell writing.
This is what the Old Soldier means when he puts up a post with the title of “Flash Fiction As Cinema.”
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Show Don’t Tell Is Body Talk
Image by silvia_c77 via Flickr
Remember, in “show don’t tell” fiction writing your story should play out like a short movie or a one-act play in the mind of your reader.
The human body is a wonderful thing. It is only through the body that we can know the world we live in.
Hello, bloggers, writers and my Flash Fiction Fanatics. The Old Soldier is always looking for better ways to explain “show don’t tell” fiction writing.
When a writer uses the “show don’t tell” method of writing fiction that writer invites the reader to experience the world of the story through the senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch directly.
This is not because the author tells (exposition) the reader about these things, but because the reader experiences the world of the story through the senses of the characters in the story, as they experience the world.
Show don’t tell.
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