Creative Writing

One of the hardest parts of writing for all writers, professional or student, is the ability to show and not tell. many people grow up hearing these words from their English teachers and never quite get what it means. I also struggled with this when I was in school.

A great way to overcome this issue is to make imagery lists. For example, in October we did a collection of short horror stories for Halloween. I started each day with a warm up about a particular monster. Day one I put the word Vampire on the board and students had to list sight, sound, smell, taste,and touch for the creature.

Topic	Vampire
Sight	bloody, crimson, pale
Sound	gurgle, slurp
Smell	rotting flesh, putrid
Taste	salty, hot
Touch	slimy, cold, clammy

Students have come up with some great lists of adjectives for each of the monsters.

This works for scenery, objects, a character's voice and other images that one can use in writing to help show and not tell what a character is like.

Example

The vampire bit into his victim.

The rotting vampire slurped on the crimson blood of the concert member.

 

The first one tells what the vampire did. The second one shows what it looked like, sounded like and who the victim was. These details can lead the writer to the next step in plot. Maybe that concert member was the girlfriend of a band member. Maybe this band member wants revenge. There's the plot and conflict.

If you find yourself getting stuck telling what's happening each step of the way, slow down. Focus on some details of imagery. It makes the story richer and more interesting.