Theory of Writing: Show, Don’t Tell

Writing is a form of expression of an individual’s ideas. Throughout this semester, I discovered that employing the technique ‘show, don’t tell’ significantly improves the quality of writing. This method relies on expressing thoughts through descriptive words, quotes, real-life experiences, and images instead of summarizing or stating information. As I increasingly practiced this approach in my writings this semester, I found that it makes my writing more effective in communicating my thoughts to readers. By demonstrating ideas instead of simply stating them, the readers can picture it, and as a result, have a deeper appreciation for the ideas conveyed in the written works.

The theory that the quality of writing is enhanced by displaying ideas rather than summarizing them strongly influenced my writing process for the first essay, the Outsider Narrative. For instance, I utilized a real-life experience as well as descriptive language to describe a time that I felt like an outsider within my own family when I couldn’t eat dinner at my grandparents’ house. Writing about a past event in detail keeps readers more engaged and leads to an overall better understanding of the essay. However, in my draft of the Outsider Narrative, I often summarized or asserted vague statements regarding how I felt about my family instead of letting the readers see it for themselves. For instance, my draft read, “My family is my support system … The five of us support each other through anything and everything” (Outsider Narrative Reflection). While this is true, this statement does not shed light on how my family supports me. After I revised it in my final draft, I wrote, “When we all eat dinner at home together on Friday nights, we talk about our lives and reconnect to each other; the conversations we share enable me to take on the rest of my week. The five of us support each other through anything and everything” (Outsider Narrative). Including these interactions is an example of showing your audience your point instead of telling it because it paints a better picture for readers as to how my family supports each other.

In the metaphor essay, I mainly used quotes to demonstrate the ideas adequately. I utilized quotes to explain the meaning behind the metaphors in Illness as Metaphor and in Depression and that Slippery Slope before analyzing the negative impact that they have on individuals. For instance, physicians, in the nineteenth century, urged “melancholy” cancer patients “not to ‘give way’ to any grief,” which illustrates that they were viewed as responsible for getting cancer. Similarly, using Alyson Chuyang’s words to showcase her feelings as a “constant feeling of drowning in everything that I was doing,” and “felt myself slipping into a dark ravine” gives the audience a clearer understanding of Chuyang’s experience (Metaphor Essay). Using the author’s words is powerful because it offers language that is consistent with the tone of the writing, which persuades the readers and imparts information adequately.

Similarly, I utilized quotes from the lens text and the movie to facilitate my claim in the Critical lens essay. For example, I used several quotes from the offensive remarks that Joey and Bianca told Kat. Joey called Kat a “bitter, self-righteous hag who has no friends” (Critical Lens Essay). Another insightful quote was when Bianca screamed, “can’t you just find one blind, deaf retard to take you to the movies so I can have one date?” (Critical Lens Essay). Utilizing these quotes reveal the specifics and the extent of how insulting Kat’s peers were, which would not be conveyed if I simply stated that they directed hurtful comments to her.

Lastly, in the research paper, I incorporated images and personal experiences in addition to statistics to illustrate how women are viewed as exaggerating their pain, which results in inadequate medical treatment. Often, statistics are just seen as numbers and do not effectively convey to the audience the reality for many women because it doesn’t encompass personal experiences and feelings. Thus, the usage of imagery and personal anecdotes served to include the vital aspect of the troubles that women face. For example, the images served as an implement for readers to see for themselves how women were perceived in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Also, including women’s personal experiences provides a realistic account of the hardships women face today. This leads the audience to sympathize with women suffering from those issues.

The theory of writing that writing improves with displaying ideas and thoughts rather than summarizing them. There are many ways to show readers, which include real-life events, experiences, or using quotes and images to convey your point in an engaging and compelling manner. Throughout the duration of the semester, I tried to enhance my writing by implementing the ‘show, don’t tell’ approach into each of my essays as well as the research paper so the audience can connect with my thoughts.

 

December 20, 2019