Talk:Show, don't tell

Separated lead into sections

The lead was the entire article and was excessively long. I separated it into a brief introduction to the concept and a section for each author. This may not be the best method for organizing the article but I think this is more readable than before. — Anita5192 (talk) 06:09, 29 March 2015 (UTC)

Playwright and film "scenario"writer Mark Swan

Mark Swan's[1] (1871-1942) use possibly predates Percy Lubbock's (1879–1965). In fact, Swan dedicated almost every page of Swan's dramaturgical text harps on it; eg: "In the planting of characterization, motivation and relationship: don't 'talk it,' ' show it.' Express these things in acted scenes, not in narrative or description."[2] "Events that have happened in the past, which cannot possibly be acted in the present, must be 'told about.' The telling of them is the only narrative or description that should be in a play. Make the 'telling' as brief and crisp as possible, without being too obvious. See if the facts can be told in a scene, or scenes, which give the actors a chance for emotional work, thus getting an emotional response from the audience while it is absorbing facts - in other words sugar-coat the pill."[3] "The novelist can fire the imagination of the reader with a scene . The dramatist must show the scene. All that the novelist gets by suggestion, by implication, the playwright must get by literal presentation."[4]

1. Legendary movie producer[5] Kenneth Macgowan (1888–1963) link - "'Show--not tell,' said Mark Swan[...]."
2. Pioneering silent-pictures dramatist[6] Arthur E. Krows (1892–1958) link - "One day, some dozen years ago at least [Edited Note: that is, before 1916 (see next interpolation)], I encountered Mark Swan on the street. [...] Since this paragraph was written he has composed also an interesting [Edited: 1927] book on playwriting. [...] "He could talk of little else but a striking motto he had found, and which he had placed on the wall above his desk. The magic line was 'Show - not tell.' [...]"^{Arthur Edwin Krows (1928). Playwriting for Profit. Longmans, Green and Company. p. 28.}
3. Mark Swan: In the planting of characterization, motivation and relationship: don't 'talk it,' ' show it.' Express these things in acted scenes, not in narrative or description.*"[7] "The novelist can fire the imagination of the reader with a scene . The dramatist must show the scene. All that the novelist gets by suggestion, by implication, the playwright must get by literal presentation."[8]

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(*)"[...]fifteen silent movies, with titles like The Pilgrims, Peter Stuyvesant, The Declaration of Independence, Dixie, and The Frontier Woman, was one of the earliest educational film series. It was produced between 1923 and 1924 by Vitagraph Studios in Flatbush, Brooklyn, a studio established in 1906 that has been called the 'first modern motion picture plant in the country.' The real Hastings connection here is a person – Arthur E. Krows, who was scenario editor at the Vitagraph company. Krows wrote the scripts for the first two films in the series[...]."[9]
--Hodgdon's secret garden (talk) 20:30, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

Swan: "[...] Don't think you know it all. Just because you've written a play and some manager has arranged to produce it, don't think you've reached the top of the ladder. Your work has just begun. You will realize this when you sit up all night, at 'inquests,' after the show, for two or three weeks, with the director and the star, changing, rewriting, and cutting. On the other hand, don't let anyone assume he knows it all. [...]"[10] --Hodgdon's secret garden (talk) 22:55, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

Note: I've contributed material about Swan to the article here (diff).--Hodgdon's secret garden (talk) 23:35, 15 August 2021 (UTC)

Herman Melville & DH Lawrence, etc?

Whilst 'show, don't tell' may be good advice for budding writers in many cases, probably something should be said for famous writers who are sometimes guilty of the opposite. Victorian description à la Dickens may be out of fashion but some readers enjoy the completest approach. Subtlety & ambiguity may find a fan in William Empson but isn't for everyone. Some prefer Warhol to Monet.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 36.11.225.154 (talk) 04:23, 06 April 2023 (UTC)