One Apple A Day #531 - show don't tell
"In descriptions of Nature one must seize on small details, grouping them so that when the reader closes his eyes he gets a picture. For instance, you'll have a moonlit night if you write that on the mill dam a piece of glass from a broken bottle glittered like a bright little star, and that the black shadow of a dog or a wolf rolled past like a ball." — Anton Chekhov
This morning this few words appeared in my mind while I was doing some stretching to wake up my body; "show, don't tell".
It's an expression used to summarise a writing technique. If you're writing about something, you can describe what's going on, providing all the information and details, including feelings and emotions. Or you can paint a picture through which the readers can feel the experience as if they were living it. In the first case, you're telling, in the second one you're showing.
The short excerpt at the opening of this post comes from a letter that Chekhov wrote to his brother, and I think it explains the concept perfectly.
Now that we know what "show, don't tell" means, I'm left with a big question mark and only two minutes to finish this post.
Where is this thought coming from? And what should I do with it?
Maybe it's related to the experience of last days. I had been talking and coaching with people from different part of the worlds. We used the English language for our conversations even thou, it was not the native language for any of us. And the different styles are just the surface of a more profound richness of cultural nuances. In those situations, telling doesn't work. If I tell how I feel using the words I know, the other person may never really feel the connection. I won't be able to spark empathy. But if I show how I feel, I can go beyond the boundaries of words and create a real connection.