Transcript Writing Style

Writing Style
Level 3
“Show Don’t Tell”
“Put yourself in the background…”
Remember: you are already
in everything you write by
virtue of your writing it;
you don’t need to remind
the reader you’re there.
Avoid phrases such as:
• “I think…”
and
• “I see…”
“Show don’t tell…”
There are big trees in this
picture.
Trees loom high above.
I watched as Kelsey ran the
100 meter very fast.
Kelsey dashed by on her
way to the finish 100
meters ahead.
Put it together…
Notice that this level puts together action verbs and
specific, concrete language.
The easiest way to achieve showing vs. telling is to decide
what the point of your sentence is and make that object
do an action in the sentence.
Assignment:
Write a well developed
descriptive paragraph
which describes the
scene in the poem
from the beginning of
class. Use all the
levels of good
descriptive style.
Assignment Rules:
• All forms of “to be” are
banned.
• Use nouns and verbs which
appeal to the senses.
• Show don’t Tell.
• Avoid all other banned words.