Show, not Tell; Demonstrate, don't Pontificate

It's so easy to just describe all sorts of actions that we never get to see as an audience. It compresses time, gives detail, and is unbelievably boring. For example, we meet two characters for the first time and get some dialogue about events we haven't experienced (events never mentioned again) and these things are tossed out as though it should mean something. Another example is describing a character going through some event, but never letting anything actually happen to the character at all (like taking someone through a museum by taking a picture of the outside of the building and explaining that cool stuff is inside).

As an audience, we want to see pertinent events happen to characters. We want the sensations that come with it all. Sure, there are times that description moves the story along best, but most of the time we want to get our fingers gritty in details and experience it together with the characters. English teachers told me time and again to "show, don't tell." It took me a very long time to understand what that meant to me, and I think it's definitely a concept that is very individual and personal.

Of course, there's also the Hitchcock theory where what isn't seen is the most terrifying. But, that's the mind filling in all the details that aren't described. It's the absence of description--but something happened didn't it? So, your mind creates it all. That is incredibly effective in small doses, but for the most part, I want to see it and have it demonstrated. Show it to me, don't just tell it and move on.

- M