Cath, Helene, Terry, Juan, Diane and welcome back to Garry our
Foreign correspondent from SE Asia on a
flying visit
The words
of the day
Foray – to make a raid, to forage
Mendacious – not telling the truth
Incipient – develop or beginning to happen
Lexicon – vocabulary of a person, dictionary
Perspicacious – strong insight and understanding
Writing
from words of the day
The writers made a foray into the words using their lexicon to
develop the stories: Helene – Harry and Donald, Garry – Stephen Hawking, Cath –
No interpreter, Lynn – His documentary, Juan – I can’t remember her name and
Terry – I’ve got it wrong.
Reading
of homework
Terry – the first murder is the hardest, Helene – Blinded by
the light parts 1 and 2, Garry – She sauntered to the red door, Cath – The
circus, Lynn – Run, Darcy run part 2 and Juan – Missing Millionaire.
Exercise
– on the beach
Using two common nouns, two proper nouns, two adverbs, two
verbs and two adjectives we created stories in the theme on the beach and read
out the following stories: Terry – A small dog, Helene – soft sand, Garry – George
found a lamp, Cath – at the beach, Lynn – She yapped back, Diane – Noisy waves
and Juan – Relaxing on the beach.
Homework
Write part three around 500 words of the story you started
previously. Or write a descriptive story using the principle “show not tell”.The Australian writers centre explains Show, don’t tell
Show, don’t tell. This age-old adage is a well deployed technique of creative literature. Wikipedia explains it well:
When applying “show, don’t tell”, the writer does more than just tell the reader something about a character; he unveils the character by what that character says and does. Showing can be done by:
· writing scenes
· describing the actions of the characters
· revealing character through dialogue
· using the five senses when possible
Here is an example
Instead of telling:
Mrs Parker was nosy. She gossiped about her neighbours.
The writer could show:
By turning the blinds ever so slightly, Mrs Parker could just peek through the window and see the Ford explorer parked in the driveway. She squinted to get a better view of the tall, muscular man getting out of the vehicle and walking up to Mrs Jones’ front door. He rang the doorbell. When Mrs Jones opened the door and welcomed the stranger into her home with a hug, Mrs Parker gasped and ran to her phone.
“Charlotte, you are not going to believe what I just saw!” Mrs Parker peeked out the window again.
Why authors use this technique
The example illustrates the power of ‘showing.’ It allows the reader to follow you as a writer, into the moment you have created. By being more specific it helps to make your writing come alive. Showing dramatises a scene in a story to help the reader forget he is reading, to help the reader get to know the characters, to make the writing more interesting.
Other examples and information are available from https://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/why-you-need-to-show-dont-tell/
