Tankard, James, and Laura Hendrickson. Specificity, imagery in writing: Testing the effects of “show, don’t tell”. Newspaper Research Journal, 1996, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/073953299601700105.
In Specificity, imagery in writing: Testing the effects of “show, don’t tell”, James Tankard and Laura Hendrickson describe the importance of showing not telling in writing, and they explain “telling makes readers passive,” while “showing engages readers by making them draw the conclusions, see the significance of the facts the writer presents.” The article contains a plethora of sources to back up the authors’ claims, ranging from quotes from prestigious writers, such as Melvin Mencher and William Noble, to in-depth experiments; in one experiment, for example, sentences were presented to one set of readers in a show version and another group in a tell version, and the article highlights how the show version sentences garnered greater interest and engagement. Due to all the facts and tips presented throughout the article, the intended audience is aspiring writers who want to learn how to craft vivid stories that come to life. The purpose is to emphasize there is little entertainment from a story that tells you what you are reading, similar to a textbook; rather, one should be engaged and forced to think for themself in a complex way.
Thus far, this source has been the most beneficial. Previously, in writing, I’ve had people inform me to show not tell, but I never knew what that meant. Thanks to this article, I now have a much better understanding that I can utilize for my piece of flash fiction. Tips I plan on using include:
- Craft a word-picture
- Realism (make your story realistic; as a result, your reader will relate more)
- Utilize figures of speech (e.g., similes, metaphors, and other literary devices)
- There is no verb weaker than “is”
- Dialogue is necessary for establishing character (you can’t instill life into characters without using their own words)