!Show! Don't Tell

 

Novels are narrative prose. Novelists use words to present a story. Novels tend to happen in the past and from a third person point of view. (Two sailors on leave in New York stood on a street corner.   A pretty woman passed by. They held up a sign that said FREE HUGS.) Once a writer finishes a novel, the story is done. It can exist unchanged forever.  Plays, however, are drama. That changes EVERYTHING. 

 

Aspiring playwrights and screenwriters hear they must be good storyTELLERS. But when I was in college, 

my major professor often said, "You cannot tell a play. You can only perform it."  It's a wise lesson to learn.

 

Of course, playwrights and screenwriters use words, but they present their stories by creating behavior for actors to perform. Regardless of when the story takes place, we write plays in the present tense. And the story must unfold before the audience so it seems to be happening in real time. (TWO SAILORS stand on a New York street corner.  A pretty WOMAN passes by. They hold up a sign that says FREE HUGS.) With a stage play, each performance will be a bit different. With screenplays, directors will work with the actors to photograph their performance and then edit film takes until they get exactly the scenes they want.

 

Let's take a narrative prose phrase such as, "He stands there thinking he should have kept his appointment yesterday." Can an actor perform it? Can anyone photograph it?  No. Not as it is written. A writer must transform it into action. Therefore, while narrative prose indeed storyTELLing, by intention, purpose and design, dramatic narrative is storyDOing.

 

Some people will argue that plays use narrative prose to provide information or link scenes together. True. But don't be confused. Such narrative can be performed and doesn't dominate the story. Indeed, the goal for a play is never telling. It is always DOing. For screenplays, the camera adds the dimension of visual image, so the writer's work will and must be photographed. Typically, all the audience will know about your story is what they see and hear on the stage or screen. If material in your play can't performed/photographed, for the audience it won't exist.  Which is why you need to SHOW. Don't tell.