Show vs. Tell

Photo by

Janet Beasley

Reach for the Stars!

Hello everyone! So great to see you here.

Regular blog posts are still appearing on Mondays - but with a little bit of a twist. 

If you haven't gotten your copy yet, 

the paperback and ebooks are available on

Amazon, and are also featured in the Kindle Lending Library! 

Due to the enormous success we have had with Maycly - I need to get busy on the next 5 novels...you read right...5 more novels! For this reason, every Monday we're going to head to the archives and the postings will be some of the coolest and most helpful blog posts I made throughout 2011 and early 2012. This will allow me the much time needed to let my creativity run wild and write, and write, and write. ;-)

Not to worry, I'm not abandoning my fans - I'll still be at your fingertips through comments here on the blog, email, Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, and other social media. 

So, without any further ado - welcome to the past!

Original Post Date
6 / 20 / 2012
(Father's Day Weekend)


HAPPY SUMMER...

what the heck - just celebrate all week!

Some of my photos...just for Dads:

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Hello faithful followers and welcome new visitors. So glad you stopped by. Just a few quick notes...for those of you who are new to the blog you can expect to see a weekly video - topic post - one of my scenic photos with an inspirational caption - links to all kinds of cool stuff - and more! We talk about things of writing, photography, and you'll have the opportunity to keep in-the-know on the progression of my novels and photographic creativity. And for EVERYONE - you'll find archived posts at the bottom of the blog and on my website as well...so if there was something you read and wish to tweet, refer, share, etc. locate it in the list far below, copy, and paste it, as directing your friends to the exact post is a nice easy way for them not to have to sift through so much. OK - nuff said...here we go!

WEEK 17 VIDEO

"Show vs. Tell"

ANSWERS AND AUTHORS' LINKS

I posted the following question to a group of authors:

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Show vs. Tell was beat into my head. Why is it then, if we as authors are 

supposed to show and not tell, continue to refer to the great authors as story"tellers?"

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Below are the answers I received from

 my fellow writers from

"Author Central"

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I'd like to personally invite you visit

the blogs, facebook fan pages, and/or websites of my fellow writers.

Every one of them is delightfully different. 

There are author interviews, book reviews, helpful writing tips, and more.

Simply click on the author's name and it will take you directly to their web presence.

Thanks and enjoy!

Daniel Carter: That's an interesting question Janet. I'm often told that actions speak louder than words. I think that our lives show the world who we are and in doing so it tells a story that hopefully is meaningful. I don't think there is a big difference in 'Show' or 'Tell' but if I show you my life there is a greater connection. If I tell you about a life you may find it fascinating but it's not the same as having witnessed it. That's my 2 1/2 cents on the subject as a...let's say 'StoryPresenter'

Shawn Lamb: I wrote several posts on the Show Don't tell - of which I am NOT a supporter. If interested check out the majority of April's post where I deal with "Editing." Especially the one titled "Study When Editing." It is a combination of narrative and dialogue that makes a good, vivid story. You can't lessen or negate one over the other. If the story is reduced to mostly dialogue - all you have is talking heads. If too much narrative, it might as well be non-fiction. There must be a balance.

Raven West: Depends on what you're "showing" and what you're "telling". If it's dialogue, it's definitely telling! There is also a choice of showing too much and telling too little. Everyone knows in any writing, there are no rules.

Dannye Williamsen: Janet, in referring to the great authors as storytellers, I believe they are alluding to the craft of the original storytellers who verbally related the stories but employed grand descriptions to paint word pictures and used sounds and motions to "show" the listener what was happening in the story. Great authors do the same. They speak from within the rhythm of the action and artfully describe the environment and the characters' states of mind to draw the reader into the story they are "telling".

Deb Hockenberry: Everything I've learned says that action (showing) is much more interesting for kids. It helps hold their attention. Now, for writing for adults I have nothing.

Christine Nolfi: My take on show vs. tell? Always keep in mind that dialogue is the true action in a novel. If you can't show the character through her dialogue then it might be time to return to the drawing board.

Susie Rosso Wolf: I personally feel that the narrative is the true source of showing. For instance, when my grandmother described her experiences on the front lines in France during WWII as one of a few of the first American Red Cross Nurses ever deployed across the pond, I could "see" everything she was describing in her narrative. Perhaps telling it well, is actually showing? Imagine that! :)


Karen S. Elliot: If you consider the storytellers of yore - they were just that - story TELLERS. They'd tell stories around the hearth, over the campfire. They could "show" emotion in their stories, jump up when their character jumped up, scream when their character screamed, whisper when the character whispered. I have memories of stories that my mom and aunt told me around the dinner table or on car trips or gathered in the living room (often there would be big band music in the background). There was no paper - just the telling. If I want to write the same stories, I'd have to "show" the emotion, smiles, and tears, describe the era, the music, and so on.

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NOVEL UPDATE: "Maycly," my epic fantasy novel, should be heading off for formatting either this week or next to become an ebook in the (hopefully) near future...that is if all goes as planned! ;-)  If you haven't heard, "Maycly" is VOL 1 in my upcoming 6 novel series titled "Hidden Earth." Along with self pubbing the ebook we will be submitting "Maycly" for hard copy publishing too. If you're a hard copy fanatic in addition to ebooks (such as I) you'll need to help us promote sales of the ebook, and give us reviews. Good sales and good reviews, I hear, are worthy "ammo" when submitting to the "big boys." So seriously - we will need your help, our future readers and fans, to make "Maycly" a book worth publishing in tangible print. A HUGE thank you to all of you in advance for your shared enthusiasm and efforts to bring about "Maycly." 

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PIC N' THOUGHT

by:

Janet Beasley

May your day's end bring you peace

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LINK OF THE WEEK:

     How many of you have ever been geocaching? And how many of you are like we were less than a year ago, now saying to yourselves..."What the heck is geo caching?" For those of you who don't know, first and foremost...it's a ton of fun! The more the merrier actually. When we first found out about it, and began to discover just how many "caches" were available just in our little neck of the woods, well, there's no other way to put it other than we felt so violated! LOL!!  

     Geo caching is an awesome activity you can do with your friends and family. It's a great outing consisting of a type of treasure hunt. You can look up online where to find geo caches in the area you will be in...yes, all over the world! If you've got a handheld GPS, you're over half way involved already! From the geocaching site (which is the LINK OF THE WEEK) you'll be able to enter your destination and discover where the hidden treasures await you. You may want to pack a small "tool kit" with some string, tweezers, pliers, tape, etc. Some of the more creative "hiders" can make it pretty tricky to retrieve their hidden treasure. 

    There's a bunch of different kinds of cache - traditional, multi, "cache in trash out," virtual, travel bugs (a personal favorite), and more!

     I won't spoil anymore of the fun, I'll just send you straight over to the site. And of course I by no means endorse this site, get money for clicks or any of that stuff - it's just something fun we found to do, that we have really enjoyed and wanted to share with you. 

     If you do decide to join up (you can become a member for free, or pay for the "premium" membership) you'll be able to find us listed as Team Goofy FL.

GEOCACHING

Here are a few photos of our team:

Team Goofy FL

Our first find...EVER!

It was buried deep in the woods, under pine needles and leaves.

This is pretty cool! There's all kinds of stuff in this box.

Wait - there's a guest book...let's sign it!

In the guardrail...really?

 These guys are good!

The bow hunter of our group was the first one to spot

this cleverly disguised cache in a camo bag tucked neatly in this log.

You can't be serious!

Good thing we had a member on our team

with teeny tiny fingers to reach up inside this road sign

to retrieve this teeny tiny cache!

There it is!

The bow hunter strikes again as the first to spy

the hidden treasure.


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WEEK 17 SUMMARY:

     WOW! What a cool week huh? Tons of fun, we celebrated Father's Day, we maybe even learned a thing or two about show vs. tell, visited some of my fellow author's sites, and got to discover or be reminded just how much fun Geocaching can be. I hope you enjoyed this post. We look forward to seeing you here next week.

     Please remember to share JLB Creatives Blog with your friends and family so they too can relish in the fun and creativity. Whether it's here on the blog, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn - we appreciate your spreading the word.

As always...stay casual, live life to the fullest, and have a piece of chocolate,

Your writin' picture takin' fool - 

~Janet~