How do I convey messages that are clear, but unspoken?
So much of communication is nonverbal - facial expressions, body language. Often, it's entirely clear what somebody is thinking and conveying even if they aren't saying a word.
How can I portray this in fiction?
These can be such powerful moments (and, in TV and film, often are). But all the "easy options" I know seem to resort to telling the message instead of showing the emotion:
- Literally convert the nonverbal message into a verbal one:
The expression on her face said "Get out now."
- Describe the nonverbal action in a way that just spells the emotion and message out for the reader:
She didn't say anything, only gazed at me pleadingly.
-
Use established cliches that we already have strong associations for, and know precisely what they're meant to convey:
"Do you want to--" I began, but Maria was already rolling her eyes at me.
or
Just like every time Corrington dropped by to visit, Nate was grinding his teeth.
These are fine some of the time. But there are times when I want to have wordless communication, and to do it well, vividly, engrossing the reader in the moment and not resorting to telling.
How can I do that?
1 answer
You tell it. Show vs tell has become a monster that is twisting fiction out of any recognizable shape. While it is often good advice for particular passages, telling is a fundamental part of the novelist's art. It it the great privilege we have over the movies. As E. M. Forster pointed out, it is what allows us to show those things that go on in the head that are not reflected in action. These are very important human things. Sometimes we feel deeply but show nothing. Movies cannot portray this very important human characteristic. It leads to a certain shallowness in movies: they are all surface.
"Show vs tell" originated as advice to novelists trying to write screenplays. Movies are a visual medium and therefore the story must be carried by the visuals, by what is shown. The novel is a verbal medium. The story can and often should be carried by what is told. A novelist trying to write a screenplay needs to find a different way of telling a story. But the novelist trying to write a novel is not bound by any such restrictions. And the novelist lacks so many of the visual and auditory tools that the movie maker has, that if they give up their own tools and attempt to emulate movie storytelling without any of the movie directory's tools, they are going to be in trouble.
Remember that the author of a movie is not the screenwriter but the director. In the novel, it is the writer who gets to sit in the big chair. A novelist should master and use the tools of their own trade: storytelling with words.
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