1. Telling vs. Showing
“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
― Anton Chekhov

2. Showing or Telling? “The car lands awkwardly, causing it to roll.”

3. Showing or Telling? “The car lands awkwardly, causing it to roll.”
What does “lands awkwardly” look like? Think of an image in your mind and let’s capture it in words.
Is the car driving itself? Does the driver matter?
Is enough detail provided to visualize what happened?

4. “The car blasted through the guardrail, went into a free-fall, then spun around in the air and landed sideways, causing the weight to shift. Freddy felt the momentum pulling the car forward. The car kept rolling, and with each flip, Freddy felt more and more helpless.”
Showing or Telling?

5. Do you do too much telling?
It was a hot summer day.
I was angry at my mother.
I was nervous and anxious for the game.
I lay in bed, unable to sleep, and I heard my parents talking below.
I rode my ATV along the bumpy ground.
The plane ride was turbulent, and I felt sick.

6. In the following passage from, The Giver, Lois Lowry shows us what a character is experiencing, without ever telling us what it is.
“Now he became aware of an entirely new sensation: pinpricks? No, because they were soft and without pain. Tiny, cold, featherlike feelings peppered his body and face. He put out his tongue again, and caught one of the dots of cold upon it. It disappeared from his awareness instantly; but he caught another, and another. The sensation made him smile.”
What does this paragraph describe?

7. Showing or Telling? Mike was mad. VS.
Mike’s face reddened, and he felt his fingers wrap tightly around the smooth metal base of the desk lamp.

8. Your turn The pizza tasted good. School is boring.
The driver in the car was uncomfortable.
Those girls are snobs.
The math test was a killer.
My room is a mess.
He is artistic.
My mom annoys me constantly.
The jocks think they’re cool.
My friend was mad.

9. Your memoir– create a snapshot
Pick an emotion you experience in your memoir.
Show what that emotion looks like and feels like.