: Re: Why are writers so hung up on "show versus tell"? I write primarily science, which I readily admit can be very bland. On occasion I read fiction, but have found over the years that my tastes

In linguistics there is a powerful duality of syntax and semantics. Syntax is what you wrote (as in the literal words and characters written in black ink on the paper), while semantics covers what you meant by those words. It's well recognized that the world of semantics is far richer than the syntaxes we apply to capture them.

A writer must understand that different people have different meanings behind words. "Clever" may be seen a synonym for "witty," but people typically associate different meanings to those words. If you stick too close to what words mean to you when writing a story (staying too close to the syntax), you can write content which feels empty and dry to someone who associates different semantics with the same words.

So what's a writer to do? After all, their medium is little black splotchets on pieces of paper. "Show don't tell" seeks to capture the art of semantics in three short words. The art of writing is being able to reach out into a reader's mind and paint with their images, which are always more vibrant than the images you supply in black and white. "Show don't tell" encourages a writer to step beyond the syntax of language and to try to toy with the semantics behind the language. It is truly an art, but who hasn't appreciated the art which brings forth the tired worn face of the patriarch as he dons his battle armor one last time, or the innocent eyes of a girl falling into her first love. The beautiful artistry of those scenes is not captured in the syntax of my words, but in the ability of the writer to paint the scenes in our heads, using our own emotions to do so.

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: Avoiding -ly Words "I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs," said Stephen King. He went on to explain that they should be used sparingly, not as a crutch to avoid writing a more

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: How do you get a character to tell a short story? Writing noobie here. I'm at a point in my story where one of the characters recalls a memory from their past and talks about the impact

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: It is a bit stereotypical, but for good reason. The two are opposing forces. I don't mean in the sense of physical frozen water and whatever the hell fire is, but in the sense of endothermic

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: Where should I pitch a book of short stories in English accompanied by French translations? I have a collection of original short stories, all of which have been published in English in literary

: Re: Why are writers so hung up on "show versus tell"? I write primarily science, which I readily admit can be very bland. On occasion I read fiction, but have found over the years that my tastes

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: Avoiding -ly Words "I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs," said Stephen King. He went on to explain that they should be used sparingly, not as a crutch to avoid writing a more

: How do you get a character to tell a short story? Writing noobie here. I'm at a point in my story where one of the characters recalls a memory from their past and talks about the impact

: It is a bit stereotypical, but for good reason. The two are opposing forces. I don't mean in the sense of physical frozen water and whatever the hell fire is, but in the sense of endothermic

: Where should I pitch a book of short stories in English accompanied by French translations? I have a collection of original short stories, all of which have been published in English in literary

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