Tales from the Blue Wendigo

So, one of the hardest things to do as a writer is to show instead of telling. Let me give you an example.

Bob was big and tall. (That is telling the reader)

Bob was so big and tall he was like a fat giraffe. (Slightly better but still telling the reader by using a simile)

When Bob walked in the room, I suddenly felt like I was in a Barbie playhouse. He would sit in my loveseat for two and would barely leave space for his own wallet. He could sit at one end of the room and still toast his feet by the fire when he stretched out.

Okay, so i’m not good at it either, but you get the point. It’s hard to do.

In normal conversation, we don’t talk like this. We say Bob was big and tall and we leave it at that. Most people don’t ask the follow up question, “How big and tall was he?”

The readers won’t ask that question either. But if you can paint the picture for them, the story suddenly becomes alive, they have an image in their head and you helped place it there.

Now the reader is picturing Bob ducking as he stands up, maybe even almost knocking over lamps, etc as he moves around in this Barbie playhouse.

So it got me thinking, when writing stories, how often do we take the simple route and say something cliche like:

Strong as an ox
Tall as a giraffe
White as a ghost
Eats like a bird
Snores like a buzz saw

Cliches are useful in conversation, but paint no pictures in story telling.

The trick is to show people how strong, tall, fat, short, stupid, smart, handsome, etc.

That’s why Yo Mamma jokes are so funny.

Yo Momma was so ugly, I took her to the zoo and the guy at the front gate said, “Thanks for bringing her back!”

Anyway, you get the picture.

Jason