"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)." - Reader Review
The Book has been self-published via Vine Leaves Press is available as Paperback and eBook via Amazon and Kobo – 102 pages – released in November 2012.
About the Book
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.
.jpg "Show & Tell in a Nutshell (Jessica Bell)") |
| Click to Read an Excerpt |
If you purchase the e-book, you will be armed with the convenient hyper-linked Contents Page, where you can toggle backward and forward from different scenes with ease. Use your e-reader's highlighting and note-taking tools to keep notes instead.
The author, Jessica Bell, also welcomes questions via email, concerning the content of this book, or about showing vs. telling in general, at showandtellinanutshell@gmail.com
Reviews (Excerpts)
- “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.[...]” - Rebekah M. Dedmon
- “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.[...]” ― Angela Mackintosh
- “As a fairly new writer I found Jessica's examples most helpful as I edit my work in progress. She has presented the examples in a simple manner that anyone can follow so we can not only improve our writing but make it the best it can be.[...]” ― Judy Flanigan
About the Author
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| Author Jessica Bell |
She 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 also 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.
Jessica Bell on Showing & Telling: "I never truly understood the difference until I’d accomplished it by accident one day. My motivation was that I needed to increase the word count in one of my manuscripts. I had a 60,000-word novel that needed 80,000–100,000 before I could submit it to agents.
I combed through my manuscript, marking scenes I thought I could expand. By the time I’d finished reworking the first scene, the concept clicked. I finally understood what all the fuss was about. My writing had become cinematic, it had movement, my characters were three dimensional and I didn’t even have to mention their personality traits because I was showing them. But above all, my writing evoked emotion. 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.
This is why I felt the need to publish a pocket guide: to show writers, how to SHOW, INSTEAD OF TELL. It’s one resource I craved and couldn’t find during the early years. I needed concrete examples that clearly demonstrated the transition from telling to showing, in a small, concise, non-threatening, non-overwhelming format. Something I could dip into without getting lost in the jungle of technical jargon that I never really understood until I googled my fingertips into flames. I learned better by example. By physically doing and reworking, making mistakes and fixing them through trial and error.
No matter how entertaining, diverse, concise, or detailed, a writing craft book is, it’s not going to work magic on you, it’s not going to suddenly make you a brilliant writer simply by reading it. You need to use what you read and learn in your own writing. Because that’s when you have those a-ha moments. That’s when it really sticks. This book will help writers find their a-ha moment."
Links to the Author and the Book
Link to the Author's website
Connect with the Author via Twitter: @MsBessieBell
Connect with the Author via Facebook: author.jessica.bell
Link to the Paperback Show & Tell in a Nutshell on Amazon with Excerpt
Link to the Kindle eBook Show & Tell in a Nutshell on Amazon with Excerpt
