Show v Tell

I have mentioned that Phinneus and Ferb is the tv show du jour at our house. Recently, Zach decided that he wanted to build a tree house in the back yard. We have the tools, we have the trees, what more could we need, right? Phinneus and Ferb built two robotic tree houses, and Zach loved that idea. In an attempt to stall, I reminded him of the blueprints P&F use each episode. An hour later, we had a stack of twenty blue prints. It was easier and more enjoyable for Zach to explain his plans than to tell us his ideas without a drawing.

A few days earlier, Zach informed me that he was going to be an Army soldier, then a doctor, then an astronaut, and then he was going to work for Santa building toys. (He promised Ainsley to bring her the kitty that I told her would not be coming to our house.) Once Zach began drawing up his blueprints, he decided to add builder to the list of jobs. His first blueprints and also his first job would be to build a Taco Cabana in North Carolina. When I found a library book about building tree houses, including blueprints, it was a miracle. Here I could encourage him to read about something that truly interested him. Zach asked me why it is called a blueprint when all of his are on white paper? Shouldn't they be white prints instead?

I have been reading "The Way of Boys," written by a Harvard behavioral therapist who works with young boys. It is an interesting discussion of why boys are being diagnosed with ADHD, speech delays, oppositional/defiant disorders, labeled "bullies" or "aggressive", and are being kicked out of schools. All before the age of 5. Zach is making much more sense to me these days. Apparently Zach is showing me that he needs to move by scratching his ears, then tapping his feet, then bouncing on the couch, then by doing headstands next to the couch. He doesn't come out and say, "I have energy that I don't know what to do with." Sometimes Zach asks me how aliens breath in space if there is no air, then what do they breathe, then what happens to us in space, then why is the sky blue and space is black. Here he demonstrates his curiosity about how things work and that he has been thinking of his new book from Dad, "Skippy Jon Jones Lost in Spice" instead of telling me that he enjoys this book.

Last week, the Army community was shocked by the shootings at Ft Hood. From what I can tell, this is all going to get more complicated and difficult before it gets easier. It is amazing, and tragic, to live in a world where it is almost impossible to discover the true victim(s) and to figure out where to lay the blame. Everyone has a different answer for us. Nothing happens in a vacuum, so I think there will end up being more victims than the fallen and more people to blame than the shooter.

I enjoy writing and there are days that I feel deeply the need to express my feelings and ideas or to describe events. It's been years since I studied writing in school, so I find library books to refresh my memory. There is a concept that published fiction writers incorporate successfully: Show, don't tell. I don't remember learning this idea, but that's not to say it wasn't explained to me. Unfortunately, many things my high school teachers said went in one ear and out the other. Looking back, I'm not sure how I ever graduated.

Anyway, here is an example of telling:

"She felt angry. She wanted to scream and to punch the wall. When she asked why they would not do it, she could tell that they were afraid of her. How could she make them understand that this was serious? Suddenly, she remembered the email from last week. This would help, she thought."

Here is an example of showing, with a minimum of telling:

"Her hand slammed down on the table as she screamed in frustration. As she stood up, her chair crashed on the floor behind her.

She cried out, 'Why won't you do it? Can't you see how important this is?'

When she stopped to take a breath, she realized that no one was looking at her. One man shuffled the papers in front of him. Someone else stared at their folded hands. Another lady hunched down in her seat.

She looked up to the spot where the ceiling meets the wall, pleading with her eyes, perhaps for the chance to start over, or possibly for a way to get through to these people. Or maybe for the ceiling to cave in to put her out of her misery. Whatever she had expected wasn't happening. After a minute, she looked down the length of the table and noticed an open laptop.

'The email! That's it!' She didn't realize she had said this aloud until someone pushed the laptop to face her. She took a deep breath, ran her fingers over the keyboard to retrieve the note, and smiled as she began to read."

You can see how much more we learn when showing and telling are combined. I'd never thought about this until recently; now I look for it in every book I read. Just like with Zach's dreams of building tree houses, I understand him better when he points out the special features in his blue prints while he describes them. And, unfortunately, just like the alleged gunman from Ft Hood: I've heard he tried to tell people what was going on, what was on his mind, but no one truly understood until he showed them.