The Sheila Variations

Show, don't tell

The theme of my writing group last night was the Writing 101 lesson of Show Don't Tell.

Don't say "Margot was very neurotic". Describe what Margot does, and then let the reader think, "Wow, Margot is neurotic."

This is a simple lesson, obviously, and yet it comes up over and over again.

The "Show. Don't Tell" dictum also applies to acting. If you are commenting on the character, trying to let the audience in on something, "acting" neurotic, or "acting" psychotic ... then you are telegraphing something out. You are "telling".

One of the main things which Stanislavksky and then Lee Strasberg taught incessantly is that acting IS behavior.

What do we remember about Travis Bickle? Not what he says about himself, not a thesis-statement on his relevance to today's society. We remember him with a mohawk, talking to himself in the mirror. That is a classic example of "acting is behavior". All Robert DeNiro had to do, to "tell" us who Travis was, was to DO what Travis Bickle DID, to OBEY the script ... and obviously, the man is a massive talent, so that helps. But the behavior of the character tells the entire story. The behavior is the thing. Not the words said.

Each piece worked on last night at our Writing Group had a "show, don't tell" lesson attached to it.

It was a theme.

Posted by sheila