Same Plot, Different Narrators

One of the most difficult concepts for an aspiring author to grasp is that of showing rather than telling the story.

Showing requires a picture painted with words, while telling is the direct approach that makes for dull reading.

There's a lot of showing and telling going on in London these days, as rioting and looting continues, spreading to other cities.

Pundits turn to knowledgeable folks to find out why these young people are expressing such rage, and the pundits tell us that these people are without jobs and without hope of advancement. Add to that a rather rigid class structure in England, where the young are not expected to eclipse their parents in earning power or social position, and you've got an underclass seething.

That's the telling.

The showing comes in the pictures like the one above, and the words of the looters themselves. People were getting things for free, said a young man in a baseball cap, so why not us? Let's get some watches, said another example of misunderstood youth, running past a news reporter doing a live feed.

The telling of the rioters' reasons was dull, plodding, and a rehash of the usual thoughts. The showing created an entirely different story, one that does not foster a sense of sympathy in those who are following the plot with rapt attention.

So this is all a protest over a police shooting?

That's a story that's told. The looting is the story being shown, and it's not the same story at all, is it?