I’ve stated before that everyone should learn a little bit of story telling, that it’s an essential skill to have, not just for those that want to be novelists or journalists but for anyone who wants to be more influential and have more influence. There are many facets to story telling and they are a bit different for those say writing a novel or someone trying to convince their boss of a new idea or such.
One facet of story telling that is important no matter who you are is showing vs telling. If you have any familiarity with writing stories or novels then this is something you have probably heard about a great many times. Make sure that you show and don’t tell but what exactly does that mean and why is it so important not just for novelists but also for anyone who wants to have people listen to their stories?
The Why Behind Show Not Tell
The biggest power that stories have is to immerse us in a narrative and turn off that “thinking” part of our brain. Stories have a way of getting at our gut while moving around the conscious mind. Which makes them very powerful and in the wrong hands, very dangerous. Narrative is a huge power and something that companies and governments spend literally billions trying to shape.
Think about that.
Companies and governments will spend billions trying to tell the more convincing story. That’s how important and how powerful storytelling, taking control of a narrative, is.
Why showing instead of telling does is engage that emotional part of the brain and hopefully get you involved in a story and feeling along with it rather than thinking along with it. It immerses you in the story and does not let go. It turns off your conscious mind and melds you with the narrative of the story, engaging you and pulling you through to the end where you are changed somewhat by it.
But what does show not tell mean concretely?
And how do we include it in our stories whether they are tales to a friend, sales pitches, or trying to convince an influential person of something.
What Show, Don’t Tell Actually Means
This was something I picked up from a great book on screen writing that I don’t hear mentioned a lot and that book is Screenwriter’s Compass: Character As True North by Guy Gallo. In it he describes show vs tell in a very simple and easy to understand way. Here’s how he uses it.
Show = Enact
Tell = Describe
You are showing something when you have it enacted on the page and you are telling when you are describing something happened.
Some examples.
Show
“We were walking down the path when out of the woods this man comes tumbling out. His hair was all mattered and his pants were halfway around his ankles. He looked at us and started screaming. I nearly peed myself trying to get out there, tripping over Bob in the process.”
Tell
“We were in the woods once and this crazy man came out that scared the crap out of us.”
Show
“The streets were riddled with destitute people. I stepped in an alley way and you know what I saw?” turns left and right. “You know what I saw? A mother holding her baby. Little thing, probably a few months old. The mother was trying to nurse the poor thing but she had no milk. She wasn’t healthy, she was an addict. All around her was filth and decay. I could smell the trash. I walked over to help her and that’s when I realized it wasn’t trash I was smelling but the mother. Why do we allow this to happen? We could solve it? Pretty easy actually.”
Tell
“Drugs are a problem in our society.”
Show
“Other companies that have went with this option proceeded to increase quarterly revenue 4 percent in the last five fiscal years. Think about it here. We implement with our top line managers, have them implement with their direct reports and so on and so forth. In a year’s time we could have a company that’s not just profitable but one of the best places to work.
People would come home to their families an hour earlier, husbands would spend more time with their wives, no T-ball games would be missed. Think of what that does? When we asked Jimmy or Bob for something what are they going to say? No more fighting, but instead a “absolutely, what can I do?”.
Imagine that for the 1,200 people working here at Acme Inc. The profit boost alone makes it worth it but the moral boost will also send it rocketing up. People holding hands on the floor and singing kumbaya just about. You’ll see a smile on every face, you’ll see people taking care of each other, you’ll see people saying “I love this company”. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
Tell
“Other companies have went with this option and increased profit. It’ll make everyone happier too so improve moral.”
Feel Vs. Think
Now those probably weren’t the best options above. And I probably slipped into some telling during the show examples which is fine to an extent. But essentially the difference is breaking something open and showing it enacted and instead describing the cold, hard thing. Showing will usually use more words and literally shows, enacts something in the mind of the viewer. Like a mini play going on in the hearer/readers mind. It brings them in and makes them feel.
And making people feel is where the power lies.
If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!
-Charles Sledge
