Show Tell in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions from Telling to Showing (Writing in a Nutshell Series, #1) by Jessica Bell

Show Tell in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions from Telling to Showing (Writing in a Nutshell Series, #1) Reviews

• 
  Lura

  I don't know why I didn't review this book earlier. I read it right after I got it earlier this year.
  
  This little book is a great resource with 16 examples scenes. Each scene has two versions: telling and showing. After reading each scene, I spent a couple of minutes analyzing the showing version to figure out why it works so well and how I can do it. My writing has already improved.
  
  The differences in the two scene versions are obvious. Ms. Bell makes it look so simple. However, telling is easier than showing, which is why so many writers struggle. Showing takes more time and more words, but makes for more exciting reading.
  
  The back of the book has three short writing prompts, the first of which is to rewrite a telling scene into a showing scene. I have yet to complete any of the prompts, but I do believe they will be helpful. I learn best by doing, and even better when I have an example to which I can refer.
  
  I have already referenced this book many times while working on my WIP. I keep it in my laptop bag so I can do so at any time. (It's small size is a bonus for the way I use it.)
  
  I chose to buy the paperback of this book over the ebook because the book includes blank pages throughout for note-taking and writing practice. As I don't have a tablet e-reader, having blank pages in an ebook is just annoying.
• 
  Alex Cavanaugh

  Simple and to the point - Jessica really shows you how to show rather than tell with excellent examples. The light bulb will go off and you'll understand!
• 
  Aurora

  Title of the book: Show & Tell in a Nutshell; Demonstrated Transitions from Telling to Showing
  
  Author: Jessica Bell
  
  Publisher: Vine Leaves Press
  
  Publishing Date: 2012
  
  ISBN: 978-1480234475
  
  Summary:
  
  (from goodreads)
  
  Have you been told there's a little too much telling in your novel? Want to remedy it? Then this is the book for you!
  
  In Show & Tell in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions from Telling to Showing you will find sixteen real scenes depicting a variety of situations, emotions, and characteristics which clearly demonstrate how to turn telling into showing. Dispersed throughout, and at the back of the book, are blank pages to take notes as you read. A few short writing prompts are also provided.
  
  Not only is this pocket guide an excellent learning tool for aspiring writers, but it is a light, convenient, and easy solution to honing your craft no matter how broad your writing experience. Keep it in the side pocket of your school bag, throw it in your purse, or even carry it around in the pocket of your jeans or jacket, to enhance your skills, keep notes, and jot down story ideas, anywhere, anytime.
  
  Other Works:
  
  She wrote String Bridge, Fabric, The best of Vine Leaves Literary Journal 2012, and so forth.
  
  Background:
  
  (from the book)
  
  The Australian native contemporary fiction author and poet, Jessica Bell, also makes a living as an editor and writer for global ELT publishers (English language Teaching), such as Pearson Education, HarperCollins, Macmillan Education, Education First and Cengage Learning.
  
  She is the Co-Publishing Editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and co-hosts the Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop on the Greek Isle of Ithaca, with Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest.
  
  For more Information please visit:
  
  Website
  
  Blog
  
  Vine Leaves
  
  Retreat
  
  Twitter
  
  Facebook
  
  Theme:
  
  "This is what successful showing does. It uses the five senses (and sixth) to evoke an emotional response from your reader without telling them how you want them to feel. Simply put, does me saying Hilary felt scared make you feel scared? Of course not." (5)
  
  Problem addressed:
  
  Show don't tell is very vague and not a lot of direction is given. (I have three guides on writing; one by Damon Knight, another a 2001 Writer's Handbook, and last one is What if?) Nobody really explains what they mean by show don't tell. They expect writers to understand intuitively. Jessica Bell, on the other hand, wrote a short handbook that demonstrates show vs telling paragraphs, labeling them. I sort of understand the difference, but its a very clear understanding.
  
  Summary of content:
  
  There are sixteen scenes in the book. In beginning the author writes down what emotions she's portraying in the telling paragraph. Then she tells in the paragraphs, creating a dry reading. The next page is of the showing with interesting details, and last page are notes that an author can take. The very back are blank pages for notes, and then three exercises one can try to demonstrate the showing vs telling.
  
  Thesis:
  
  Showing and not telling can be learned. This book is very helpful to writers in distinguishing the differences between that.
  
  Main Points:
  
  Writing in a cinematic way and really bringing a reader into a character's skin is very important for a writer. No one would want to read a flat novel without the details that help us like characters. One last thing is that while showing is important, moving the plot is important too, thus the writing needs to be told sometimes as well, at least to move the plot along.
  
  Why its interesting and informative:
  
  Its not a technical book and its easily understood. Anyone can understand it and it can click with writers instantly. I had to learn about it in a more difficult way. (I suspect a book and opening up myself were heavily involved.) One can also check out how to portray different various emotions and situations through showing with a handy index in the back.
  
  Successfully supports thesis:
  
  I think it does successfully support the thesis and it does teach showing vs telling.
  
  Outside sources:
  
  I have three books dealing with writing: one is titled What If? 2nd edition, another Creating Short Fiction by Damon Knight, and last but not least is the Writer's Handbook 2001. Writer's Handbook 2001 and Creating Short Fiction by Damon Knight don't even have a section on showing vs telling, at least in index and on table of contents I couldn't locate them. What If? does have it, but the writing is confusing and technical, at least when compared to Show & Tell by Jessica Bell. (I haven't read the authors brought up and one is expected to understand the difference already in four pages through three different and confusing versions!)
  
  Addressing Issues:
  
  In What If? the issue of Show Don't Tell is on complex, as well as the chosen paragraphs. I didn't understand the meaning and what the author is encouraging. (The book was used as a textbook for a beginning writing class! Shouldn't what it is be addressed first before encouraging us to use both?)
  
  Small Ideas vs larger ideas:
  
  It simplifies Show and Tell so the future writer can simply read it and do exercises and then it can click intuitively. Remember too, its important to use both instead of just only showing or only telling. (Please read Anne Rice's Witching Hour for a good example of when Showing is used way too much... and for telling, I might recommend any of Jane Austen's novels.)
  
  Agree/disagree:
  
  I agree with her opinions. I also wonder if the reason I'm not a big fan of classics is because I have gotten used to cinematic writing instead of dry writing.
  
  Revision:
  
  This is not revision but first edition.
  
  Sources:
  
  The author didn't use any special sources but purely used examples from her own writing in demonstrating the Show or Tell paragraphs.
  
  Conclusion:
  
  If you have always wanted to make your writing more cinematic and beautiful and aren't sure of Show and Tell, I would advice you to pick up this handy-book and try to see if it can help you understand what's going on and how to write the scenes correctly.
  
  Quick notes: I won this book on goodreads.com thus this review will appear in its entirety on goodreads as well as the blog
  
  4 out of 5
  
  (0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
  
  
  http://sveta-randomblog.blogspot.com/...
• 
  Glenn Younger

  Makes its point
  
  If you’re a beginner at writing and don’t understand the basic difference between showing and telling, this could be a good start for your understanding.
  
  It’s simple. Straightforward. And even if the showing scenes are sometimes not that well written, they do make their point.
• 
  Dan Dwyer

  Telling examples that show up in your writing
  
  We learn by being shown not by being told. Good examples of show and tell. I only wish there were more of them, especially about the more positive emotions. That said,this book gives you a good idea of what you have to do to grab the reader
• 
  F.D. Green

  Show and tell in a nutshell...
  
  For the love of me I never really understood the concept of show and tell... This short book helped a little... I've read it twice and probably will keep Reading it until I get it right!
• 
  Analiesa Adams

  Very good explanation of the show vs. tell conundrum writers struggle with in their writing. I would recommend putting this one on your book shelves for continuous use.
• 
  Anstice Brown

  One of the most common pieces of advice given to aspiring writers is to ‘show, not tell’. But what exactly does this mean? The phrase is repeated throughout countless blogs, articles and writing handbooks, yet it is seldom explained in enough detail to be beneficial. For a long time, I had the vague notion that it encouraged writers to explain a character’s actions rather than to describe their thoughts and feelings, but I never fully understood how I could implement this as a technique in my writing. So when I heard about Show & Tell in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions from Telling to Showing, I eagerly downloaded the eBook, hoping that it would help me to understand the concept once and for all.
  
  Author Jessica Bell introduces the book by sharing her own story about her understanding of the phrase ‘show, don’t tell’ and explaining her motivation for writing the book-to provide writers with ‘real examples that demonstrate the transition from telling to showing’. What follows is exactly that-a concise handbook that not only tells the writer what they are doing wrong, but shows them exactly how to put it right (how very meta!).
  
  Bell presents sixteen scenes as examples, each with a list of attributes (feelings, emotions, situations etc.) that she aims to show. She suggests each scene should be read four times-first to grasp the feel of it, second to identify the words and phrases that have been reworked, third to recognise how they have been changed, and fourth to brainstorm your own ways of depicting the same attributes. This simple methodology is very easy to follow, and the scenes cover a range of different tenses and points of view.
  
  For each scene, she provides an example that is purely description and all ‘telling’, then she rewrites the same scene in a much more effective and engaging style, focusing on ‘showing’. This structure allows you to analyse the two different styles side-by-side, comparing and contrasting the techniques used and their effectiveness. You can clearly see the difference between the two examples. I was blown away by Bell’s talent for bringing scenes and characters to life. She uses realistic dialogue and concise descriptions of all five senses to create movement and evoke emotion. Dull, lack-lustre lists of thoughts and actions are transformed into inspiring, cinematic scenes that seem to play out in your mind’s eye.
  
  But how does this help writers to improve their own craft? After reading the examples, Bell encourages her readers to put what they have learned into practice by rewriting some scenes for themselves, in their own style. The print edition contains blank space for writing notes and ideas, and she encourages those with an eBook version to use highlighting tools to fully engage with the guide. She also provides an email address for readers to ask for more advice, writing prompts or for clarification of anything in the book.
  
  Overall, this handbook couldn’t be more helpful. It’s both easy to understand and to implement in your own work. My only disappointment was that the book wasn’t longer, but it does provide sufficient examples to learn from. I would recommend it to beginner writers, or anyone going through the process of editing drafts, and I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series: Adverbs & Clichés in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Subversions of Adverbs & Clichés into Gourmet Imagery.
  
• 
  Margo Dill

  What do writers like to get in their holiday stockings? How about helpful writing books, such as Show and Tell in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions from Telling to Showing? How many of us have had our manuscripts critiqued and have also heard during that critique, "You are telling too much. You need to show"? So, how does Jessica Bell's book help writers learn to show and not tell in just a little over one hundred pages?
  
  Jessica's entire idea is to create a handbook for writers that shows how to show and not tell, and she succeeds by presenting sixteen scenes to read and learn from. In her introduction, she suggests that you read each scene four times and focus on different parts of it each time. After reading it through once, then the second time, writers should "identify the telling words/phrases." By the last time a scene is read, a writer will be brainstorming their own ways to "fix" the scene. (In the print version of the book, Jessica provides blank pages to take notes and try your own wording of the scenes.)
  
  So, what does a scene entail? First, readers will encounter a list of attributes that a writer is trying to portray in a scene. For example, in the first scene, the list is: "amazing view, awe, feel hot, relief, feel tired." The next page has a paragraph, full of telling.
  
  Sandy stood at the foot of the Egyptian Pyramids. Though she was hot, tired and sore, she was awestruck by the amazing view and felt a sense of relief. Finally, she’d made it.
  
  Obviously, there's a lot of telling in that above example. Can you pick that out? The next page in the book, which I won't share with you here, provides Jessica's version of the same paragraph, but with showing details, instead of telling. Then there's a page for notes.
  
  What I like about this book is that the author tells you what she wants to portray in each paragraph with a list, provides a simple telling example, and then she gives a good example of showing instead of telling. She is also encouraging you to do the same--in your own style. How could you rewrite the above paragraph to show Sandy was hot without telling the reader she's hot? Would you do it the same way as Jessica? Can you figure out more than one way to do it?
  
  Each of the sixteen scenes is set up like this. There's no long explanations on why the author chose to do what she did. This is a short, concise book, but it gets the point across. In the end, the author provides three writing exercises and her e-mail address, where she invites readers to contact her if they have questions or need more writing prompts.
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Angela Mackintosh

  
  “Show, don’t tell.”
  
  If you’re a writer, you’ve probably heard that dreaded phrase at least once. I remember hearing it quite often when I first started writing fiction, but no matter how many times someone tried to explain it to me, I just didn’t completely get it. Like many women writers, I started writing at a young age in my diary--and diaries are all telling--so I became accustomed to writing confessionals about my feelings. Well, that doesn’t make for compelling fiction!
  
  What I really needed was a guide like Jessica Bell’s Show & Tell in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions from Telling to Showing. This go-to guide shares sixteen expertly crafted scenes that transition from telling to showing. Each scene starts with a list of emotions, senses, actions, or situations that are the ultimate objectives of the scene. Jessica writes the scene as someone would TELL it on one page, and then follows by SHOWING the scene in evocative, cinematic prose. Her tight descriptions, realistic dialogue, and vivid characters alight on the page in such a way that there’s no doubting the differences between show and tell when analyzed side by side. That’s the simple beauty of this guide, but the author doesn’t stop there. She suggests studying each scene four different ways, including an assignment to brainstorm your own ways of writing the attributes listed at the beginning of the scene and at the back of book. Also included is a page of writing prompts and plenty of space for notes, making this a truly interactive guide.
  
  The strength of Show & Tell in a Nutshell is in its concise examples. It really is showing you, not telling! This is a pocket-guide reference that writers will want to keep close and use again and again. You will find inspiration within these pages for your own WIP (work in progress).
  
• 
  Rebekah Dedmon

  SHOW & TELL IN A NUTSHELL: Demonstrated Transitions from Telling to Showing by Jessica Bell is brilliant. It is a pocket-guide reference for writers that need help with the skill of showing instead of telling in their works.
  
  Personally, I feel as though every aspiring author has been told at one point in time, “To show and not tell.” I know that for me, at first I could not grasp that concept and would become easily frustrated with it. This quick reference guide shows you how to transition a dull paragraph into a colorful one. There are 16 scenes (IE – examples) to show you how to pick key words that are telling. Bell then rewrites the scene to demonstrate ways of showing the scene in a more effective, emotional way. Blank pages are also included for your benefit to jot your ideas down.
  
  Keep in mind, like any writing instructional book, it is not going to work wonders for you unless you practice and write every day. Trial and error is what makes the writer. This book provides guidance for that process.
• 
  Stephen Tremp

  I read Jessica Bell's Show & Tell in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions from Telling to Showing over the course of weekend. And the timing couldn't be better as I'm finishing the draft for my current WIP, the third book of a trilogy.
  
  I've noticed in my first two books there were a number of scenes that could have been better communicated by showing rather than telling. One of my main goals this time is to write scenes that show rather than tell. After reading Show & Tell in a Nutshell, I sat down at my PC and rewrote about twenty scenes, using situations, emotions, characteristics, and other examples from Jessica's book that grab the reader and pull them into the story.
  
  I found the book to be a concise and easy read and the exercises were user-friendly using my KindleFire. I give Show & Tell in a Nutshell five stars and recommend it to aspiring and established writers alike. Thanks Jessica!
• 
  Lee Dunning

  It was concise, so yes, I guess it is aptly named. Don't let the 102 pages fool you, none of the pages has more than a paragraph on it, and the others are a page with words pertinent to the scene (five words at the most), a page with a "tell" version of a scene (only 2-5 sentences) and then a page with the "show" version of the scene (the paragraph). The last chapter (if you can call it that) is a collection of words that you are then supposed to work into your own "showing" scene.
  
  Based on the reviews by others, I am in the minority in thinking the $1.99 I paid for this pamphlet was way too much. Others got something out of this "book", I did not. At least it only took me about 15 minutes to go through the whole thing.
  
  I believe you would do better to pick up a book by a skilled writer and simply study a few paragraphs of their work to see how they create an exciting and dynamic world.
• 
  Amie McCracken

  Show and Tell in a Nutshell by Jessica Bell is a writing craft book that is practical. Jessica shows the reader how to show in a very practical and dynamic way. She gives examples of telling and then switches them right around to showing. She also provides exercises and blank sheets of paper for the reader to try it all out on their own.
  
  I could not believe the amount of scenes Jessica managed to create with such flair and intensity. The tone of each was so very different. I have never seen such obvious yet beautiful examples of showing. As an editor, I look forward to recommending this book to my authors. It has the ability to broaden a writer's horizon not just in showing but in the tone and temper used.
  
  I received this book from the author for review.
• 
  Laurel Garver

  A quick read with vibrant examples of how a passage can be transformed from "telling" readers about emotions to showing them. If underwriting and bland characterization are your Achilles heel, this little pocket guide is sure to be useful.
  
  I have to admit I was expecting a bit more "how to" alongside the examples. Bell takes an intuitive rather than analytic approach, so it will resonate with some learning styles more than others.
  
  What I'd love to see is a companion book for us who struggle with "overwriting" that discusses proportion and how to take a bloated description and sculpt it into a more lovely form.
• 
  Gregory Lamb

  I didn't hunt this book down. It was recommended to me, so I snatched it up immediately after reading the blurb. When I read Bell's introduction it was like looking in a mirror. I've been critiqued on occasion for having produced too much telling and not enough showing in my fictional works.
  
  I nearly gave up the search for a concise and practical set of tools like the ones Bell offers in her quick to read, easy to use manual. I now have a new found confidence to get back to working on revising one of my works in progress, using the techniques I've picked up by reading "Show & Tell In A Nutshell." Thanks Ms. Bell for doing such a great job making the concept so accessible.
• 
  Melissa Maygrove

  This is an easy-to-understand book on fiction writing, which focuses on the skill of 'showing versus telling.' The author gives several examples of passages written in bland telling form followed by the same scene once showing techniques have been applied.
  
  Skill level: Is this for you?
  While I think most writers could learn something from this book and I strongly encourage new writers to read it, it's my opinion that the lessons are geared for beginning fiction writers. I'd been writing and studying fiction for about two years when I read Show & Tell, and I didn't encounter much that I hadn't already gleaned from critiques, blog articles, and basic craft books.
• 
  Addicted to Books

  3 stars
  
  I found this book to be useful when I first started writing. I rarely give short books 3 stars but this one deserves it. She waters it down and gives examples.
  
  I would challenge you one step further. Rewrite the the telling scenes into your own version of showing.
  
  or look through some books you know had a lot of telling and see as a whole how it failed thewhole book or certain parts
  
  Indie writers , please give this book a go.
• 
  Tracey Pedersen

  Good information and learning to show, not tell is a fabulous skill for a writer. This was a very short book and I thought there could have been a lot more information included. I will say that in the examples between telling and then showing felt like the telling part was just a summary rather than a written piece. Then the showing was the full part with dialogue, etc. I would have liked two actual examples to compare. Worth adding this to your writing knowledge.
• 
  Kristine

  Fabulous book for those of us still learning the craft of writing. Bell offers sixteen examples of scenes written by telling and then by showing and then challenges you as a writer/reader to do the same exercise for yourself. For people who learn from examples/modeling best (like me), this is a wonderful way of learning. Definitely worth the read.
• 
  Medeia Sharif

  To make action scenes and characters come alive, you show instead of tell. With sixteen examples of show versus tell and writing exercises at the end, SHOW & TELL IN A NUTSHELL is a fantastic resource for writers. If someone has had agents, editors, critique partners, and so on point out areas of telling—which is a weakness—this book will help strengthen his or her writing.
• 
  Susan Swiderski

  Writers are frequently instructed to "show, not tell", but before we can follow that advise, we first have to understand it. Bell's brilliant nuts-and-bolts examples provide just what every writer needs to not only understand the concept, but to implement it. Know why? She doesn't just tell us about this concept... she shows us. Kinda fitting, dontcha think?
• 
  Joana Arteaga

  Show & Tell in a Nutshell is a very short book and I finished reading it in a day. It has 16 different scenes explaining how to show the reader what you want them to feel instead of just telling them. I really enjoyed all the examples of how showing instead of telling makes a book more interesting. This is a great book to help you become a better writer.
• 
  Hege

  Excellent for someone like me who has never really been taught writing. It gave me some great ideas for taking my own manuscript to the next level. And not only that, I am actually looking forward to it!
• 
  Clara

  Great for writers novice or multi published. this little book gives examples of showing rather than telling and is a great review for those multipublished authors and great for those beginning their writer career.
• 
  E.G. Moore

  Great examples and exercises
  
  I love how the author gives great examples to help you see the difference. The writing exercises helped me get my creative juices flowing. This would be great for beginner writers as well. Worth the money.
• 
  Meryl

  Good examples if you are completely ignorant of the difference between showing and telling. Very short, but it works on examples rather than trying to quantify what showing and telling are.
• 
  G. Edward Smith

  Outstanding! Highly recommend to new writers.
• 
  Lex

  It's a small book with 16 examples of transforming telling to a showing scene. A nice little goodie to refer back to.