Where it Goes Wrong When Discussing SHOW

In an article on line a famous essayist (talking about NON-Fiction) said:

“If writers do everything in scenes and dialogue, they’re not using one of the most powerful tools of the memoir and essay, which is reflection – making sense of the experiences,” he said.


You see, THIS is sleight of hand

There's a term in the philosophy of argument where you slip in a lie that people miss and then it becomes fact


Here he says: 

“If writers do everything in scenes and dialogue, they’re not using one of the most powerful tools of the memoir and essay, which is reflection


The sneaked in lie, or mis-information is this phrase

>>>> If writers do everything in scenes and dialogue <<<<

>>>> If writers do everything in scenes and dialogue <<<<

>>>> If writers do everything in scenes and dialogue <<<<

In the essay he is CLEARLY implying that "show" IS everything in scenes and dialogue

BUT-IT-ISN'T!!

SHOW is far, far, FAR more than "everything in scenes and dialogue"


A newbie could be forgiven for thinking as follows




SHOW is everything in fiction done in scenes and dialogue. (See article)

"thus"

Everything in scenes and dialogue is SHOW

and

Everything NOT in scenes and dialogue is NOT SHOW

Therefore

Everything NOT in scenes and dialogue is TELL

and that is a tremendous error of logic, a tremendous error of fact, and fixating as the above will hold back your writing by at least 18 months

I spend HOURS almost every day trying to push back this tide of wrongness with my students.

Show-Tell is confusing because it's been simplified as saying


Show is Dramatic Action

Tell is everything else.


And this is utterly WRONG!

And see here, AGAIN, misinformation

Quote: 

"To Show and To Tell is filled with entertaining descriptions of the push-and-pull between the renowned essayist and his writing students, who often prefer “showing” while simultaneously disappointing Lopate by failing to reflect (“tell”)."



See how "reflection" is categorised as TELL?


WRONG!



Do you think Hamlet's Soliloquy is TELL?



I must go down to the sea again
To the lonely sea and the sky

REFLECTION, yes?

It sure ain't TELL

How about Kipling's poem IF... reflection, yes? TELL?

IF you can keep your head when all about you 
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings 
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Try taking Kipling's poem and making it tell. 

Then maybe you'll see his poem is show.

There are many elements in the making of manliness and I hope to explain these as follows, with many examples. 

IF you can keep your head when all about you 
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

Firstly, there will be times when many others, your friends, colleagues, etc will be confused or worried and unable to cope with various crises (such as battle). 

They will be, as they say "losing it" and annoyingly they may well turn on you and blame you for their inadequacies. But if you can maintain your composure that is one small element in the totality of being "a real man."

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

It is extremely important that you examine your thinking at all times and believe in yourself. While you must not be boastful or over-confident it's important that, after self-examination of your knowledge, motives, situational context and so on that your are firm in your beliefs and act with character and leadership and strength of personality. LEAD!

However, try your best as a gentleman to allow for the frailties of others. Forgive them their indiscretions. The fact that they doubt is not solely down to them but a product of their genes, their upbringing, their class, and so on

1 minute ago