Present don’t inform — what does that imply?
The primary time I heard the recommendation “present, don’t inform,” I used to be younger and it confused me.
Present what? Isn’t writing all about telling a narrative?
On the time, I shrugged it off as some form of mysterious double-talk, however the phrase saved popping up: present, don’t inform.
It rolled off my lecturers’ tongues. I noticed it in books and articles on the craft of writing. A few occasions, it appeared in purple on my papers with an arrow pointing to a particular sentence or paragraph. Then I took a poetry class and had an enormous aha second the place present, don’t inform turned abundantly clear.
In poetry research, we discuss so much about imagery. This poem has vivid imagery. What an important picture! The photographs within the first stanza don’t go along with the pictures within the second stanza. This type of discuss didn’t make sense to me both. Pictures in poems? We’re alleged to be writing, not drawing!
The irony, in fact, is that my writing was filled with imagery; I used to be extra liable to displaying than telling. Nonetheless, the phrasing of those writing suggestions perplexed me.
Since then, I’ve labored with loads of younger and new writers who’ve expressed embarrassment at having to confess they’re unsure what present, don’t inform means.
Present, Don’t Inform
Present, don’t inform is commonly doled out as writing recommendation, and it incessantly seems on lists of writing suggestions. It even has its personal Wikipedia web page! Together with the recommendation “write what you understand” and “know your viewers,” it’s a kind of writing-related adages that deserves some clarification as a result of it appears counterintuitive and raises a bunch of questions.
But it’s truly a easy idea. Paradoxically, one of the best ways to clarify it’s to indicate, somewhat than inform, what it means, and I don’t assume anyone’s performed that higher than Anton Checkhov:
Don’t inform me the moon is shining; present me the glint of sunshine on damaged glass. – Anton Chekhov (supply: Goodreads)
Oh, I Get It
I as soon as heard a lecturer give a discuss love, and he made a great level: it’s not sufficient to inform somebody you’re keen on them; it’s important to present individuals that you just love them via your actions.
We are able to apply the identical idea to writing.
You’ll be able to inform your readers that two characters met and have been immediately attracted to one another, or you would present the characters assembly, making eye contact, and checking one another out. He gulps, she bats her eyelashes, and readers get the image.
While you present, you’re utilizing phrases to create a scene that readers immediately visualize. As a substitute of intellectually registering what you’re telling them, they totally think about what you’re displaying them.
We are able to flip Checkhov’s clarification right into a writing train during which we present, don’t inform readers our concepts:
| Inform | Present |
| Kate was drained. | Kate rubbed her eyes and willed herself to maintain them open. |
| It was early spring. | New buds have been pushing via the frost. |
| Charlie was blind. | Charlie wore darkish glasses and was accompanied by a seeing-eye canine. |
| Sheena is a punk rocker. | Sheena has three piercings in her face and wears her hair in a purple mohawk. |
| James was the captain. | “Comfy,” James known as out earlier than stress-free into the Captain’s chair. |
Now you strive it. Consider some easy concepts that you would present readers as an alternative of telling them.
Are there any writing suggestions that you just hear incessantly however don’t fairly grasp? Share your ideas and questions by leaving a remark, and ensure whenever you’re writing, you present, don’t inform.
