Showing & Telling: Learn How to Show & When to Tell for Powerful & Balanced Writing

Write vibrant scenes and essential summaries

"Show—don't tell." How many times have you heard this standard bit of writing advice? It's so common in writing courses and critiques that it has become a cliche. Writers are often told to write scenes, dramatize, cut exposition, cut summary—but it's misguided advice. The truth is good writing almost always requires both showing and telling. The trick is finding the right balance of scene and summary—the two basic components of creative prose.

Showing and Telling shows you how to employ each of these essential techniques in the appropriate places within a narrative. You'll learn how to:

  • Write scenes and cut exposition
  • Compress time and summarize background information
  • Create graceful transitions
  • Effectively inject interpretation
  • And more!

Complete with examples from bestsellers and interactive exercises, this comprehensive guide offers an in-depth look at scene development, the role of reflection in storytelling, the art of summarizing, and how to bring it all together.

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Showing & Telling: Learn How to Show & When to Tell for Powerful & Balanced Writing

Write vibrant scenes and essential summaries

"Show—don't tell." How many times have you heard this standard bit of writing advice? It's so common in writing courses and critiques that it has become a cliche. Writers are often told to write scenes, dramatize, cut exposition, cut summary—but it's misguided advice. The truth is good writing almost always requires both showing and telling. The trick is finding the right balance of scene and summary—the two basic components of creative prose.

Showing and Telling shows you how to employ each of these essential techniques in the appropriate places within a narrative. You'll learn how to:

  • Write scenes and cut exposition
  • Compress time and summarize background information
  • Create graceful transitions
  • Effectively inject interpretation
  • And more!

Complete with examples from bestsellers and interactive exercises, this comprehensive guide offers an in-depth look at scene development, the role of reflection in storytelling, the art of summarizing, and how to bring it all together.

18.99 In Stock
Showing & Telling: Learn How to Show & When to Tell for Powerful & Balanced Writing

Showing & Telling: Learn How to Show & When to Tell for Powerful & Balanced Writing

by Laurie Alberts
Showing & Telling: Learn How to Show & When to Tell for Powerful & Balanced Writing

Showing & Telling: Learn How to Show & When to Tell for Powerful & Balanced Writing

by Laurie Alberts

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$18.99 
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Overview

Write vibrant scenes and essential summaries

"Show—don't tell." How many times have you heard this standard bit of writing advice? It's so common in writing courses and critiques that it has become a cliche. Writers are often told to write scenes, dramatize, cut exposition, cut summary—but it's misguided advice. The truth is good writing almost always requires both showing and telling. The trick is finding the right balance of scene and summary—the two basic components of creative prose.

Showing and Telling shows you how to employ each of these essential techniques in the appropriate places within a narrative. You'll learn how to:

  • Write scenes and cut exposition
  • Compress time and summarize background information
  • Create graceful transitions
  • Effectively inject interpretation
  • And more!

Complete with examples from bestsellers and interactive exercises, this comprehensive guide offers an in-depth look at scene development, the role of reflection in storytelling, the art of summarizing, and how to bring it all together.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781582977058
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 05/05/2010
Pages: 256
Sales rank: 216,464
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Laurie Alberts is the author of 6 books including 3 novels: The Price of Land in Shelby, Lost Daughters and Tempting Fate. She has won several awards, including a Jame Michener Award. She teaches in the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Section 1 Making Vibrant Scenes

Chapter 1 The Purposes of Scenes 8

Chapter 2 Types of Scenes 12

Chapter 3 Scene Structure 34

Chapter 4 Tools of the Scene Trade 40

Chapter 5 The Sins of Scenes 87

Scene Exercises 92

Section 2 Creating Essential Summaries

Chapter 6 The Uses of Summary 96

Chapter 7 Reflection 125

Chapter 8 More Tools of the Summary Trade 141

Chapter 9 The Sins of Summary 155

Summary Exercises 161

Section 3 Combining Scene and Summary

Chapter 10 Using Summary to Set Up Scenes 164

Chapter 11 Inserting Summary in the Midst of Scenes 173

Chapter 12 Inserting Scene in the Midst of Summary 178

Chapter 13 Scene, Summary, and Pace 181

Chapter 14 Following a Scene With Reflective Summary 188

Chapter 15 Balancing Scene and Summary 188

Chapter 16 Transitions 194

Chapter 17 Beginnings and Endings 199

Scene and Summary Exercises 210

Appendix A (Story Sample): "Russia Is a Fish" 211

Works Cited 243

Index 246

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