Dheera's Workshop of Whimsy

Hello again!

I have chosen one questions to answer this week.

Suamna (13 years) says she finds it difficult to show something happening. She is more comfortable telling the reader about it. She asks why it is better to show rather than tell.

Answer: Telling is recounting the tale and is not as impact ful as showing it happen. By showing it happen, through conversation/interaction or even by a description, you are making the reader a part of what is happening. To give a small example. You can say, the boy felt sad. Or you can say, the boy’s chest heaved and a tear rolled down his cheek. The former is telling and the latter showing what really happened.

To work on this skill, thinkof little incidents in everyday life and first just describe them, then rewrite them in a ‘showing’ way.

Do send me  your pieces when they are done!

PLOT

So then back to plot.

Plot is the structure or sequence of events in your story. The boy went to the market…has no plot. The boy went to the market on the day there was a bomb blast…has the beginning of a plot. So basically, the way the story unfolds is the plot. The story itself is the plot.

Here is an exercise: Take whatever you are writing currently and divide it up in summary form into : 1) the description of character and settings; 2) the action in which conflict develops; 3) the climax; 4) where the resolving process begins; and 5)  the final resolution. This then is the structure or plot of your story.

Write away the summer heat!

XOXO

Dheera