Action is Exciting!
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In countless fiction classes, you will be told again and again “Show, Don’t Tell.” While probably good advice, it is advice I could never quite understand. (Someone clarified it to mean, “Show whatever you can, and tell the rest.” Hmm. Still no go.)
My best way, though, to explain how to get readers into the scene you’re creating, to get readers to see the characters and feel the situation for themselves, is simple: Action is Exciting. I always write this up on the board on the first day of class. And I think it’s getting at the same basic idea as “Show, Don’t Tell,” except in a way I like more.