Showing Writing

We hear it all the time--"Show! Don't Tell," but what does it really mean? 


When you cut through the plod of telling, and show what you mean, the reader "gets" what you're saying at a visual or gut level. Showing reaches the reader's imagination much more quickly than the more cerebral telling. Showing eliminates a level of interpretation, a filtering through the intellect. Unless, of course, your aim is to slow down the process, to encourage the reader's contemplation...then it's time to do some telling or summarizing. 

In narrative nonfiction, we show in scenes--adding dialogue, place details, characters' action, and so forth. We show with selective reporting--foregrounding the details that serve our purpose.


Case in point: I've recently added the Longform app to my reader, and the top article when I opened it Saturday, the day following Thomas Kinkade's death, was a a great piece of journalism Susan Orlean had written in 2001, called, "Art for Everybody." (Orlean's title will sound comforting to some readers; worrisome to others.) In a nearly "aw shucks" tone, Orlean reports her interview with Kinkaid, her extensive field work, and his reaction to art critics.


It's straight-forward writing, its point communicated purely through showing writing.  She doesn't tell the reader what to think or how to view Kinkade's art--which is as fiercely derided by art critics as it is embraced by its consumers. 


Orlean reports the facts of her field work in what might seem like simple narrative. Her biting interpretation of Kinkade as a self-described "Artist of Light" and her arch evaluation of his claim to be the people's artist come through in details she reveals, scenes she recreates and in the juxtaposition of details in the content. She smiles politely to her reader as surely as she skewers Kinkade, nails him, strings him up and ties him down.


Of course, Orlean is a pro and smart--like a fox. It's a delightful and instructive read, a model of showing writing.