A couple of days ago I asked you how you felt about the concept of working on one story during September, with a focus on the idea of ‘show, don’t tell’.

Boy, did you feel strongly about it!

Lots of people loved the idea of spending the month in focused practice, working on one story.

• “Love, love, love this idea!” – Christina
• “Going deep on technique and taking time to develop a piece sounds wonderful to me.” – Elizabeth
• “Yes for the one story idea! “ – Yvonne
• “ I have had a hectic summer and really could use some motivation in September to focus on my craft.” -Sukie
• “Oh I simply love the idea. Of course I do understand how important it is in a story but yeah, I need a lot of practice.” – Riana
• “I love the idea of focusing on a single story over the course of a month” – Daryl
• “I love trying to show, not tell, and welcome practice and information! I’m in!” – Melanie
• “I somewhat understand but would love the practice.” -Sheila
• “ I definitely need more help in showing more than telling.” – Leslie
• “ It will be a good exercise in trying to finish and polish one good story.” – Prachi
• “It would be great to have the prompts and feedback to guide us instead of letting us wander around.” – Mike
• “Any opportunity to improve or develop the skill is very welcome.” – Caroline
• “I’m in!” – Neha

Other people had strong feelings about ‘show, don’t tell’, itself:

• “The logical part of my brain knows the difference between the two, but the creative part doesn’t always know which would work better while drafting” – Michele
• “To be (very) honest, ‘show don’t tell’ is a phrase that gives me the ick…Perhaps re-branding in some way would be useful.” – Katie (btw, I love this suggestion- JD!)
• I don’t think I quite understand when it’s better to show or tell. ..82% of the time, I will over-describe…” – Taryn
• “I have a love, hate relationship with ‘show don’t tell’ because sometimes telling is the best practice for the scene and other times showing is.” – Taylor (Totally agree – JD)
• “Show-don’t-tell has led me to create some agonizingly dull prose..I get the concept but still struggle to find the right balance.” – Shan
• “I’m a very verbal person, and showing/not telling doesn’t come easily for me, so I’d really appreciate some examples and tips for how to do it better.” – Elizabeth
• “ Sometimes the rule can be used as an unhelpful bludgeon in critique.” – Walter
• “I understand ‘Show, don’t tell’, but find it more difficult with shorter word counts. I’d be interested in learning more about how to do that.” – Pat

So here’s what we’re going to do in September:

The One-Story Challenge: Show, Don’t Tell Edition

It’ll work a little bit like the regular StoryADay May challenge, with me providing inspiration and assignments every day, only this time we’ll be working on the same story all month.

• In Week 1 we’ll draft a story – fast and messy, just telling ourselves the story.
• In Week 2 we’ll dive into what “Show, Don’t Tell” means, and identify place in our stories where each technique would work better.
• In Week 3 we’ll practice ‘making a scene’ in those parts of the story where ‘show’ definitely makes the most sense. We’ll think about character, pacing, tension, senses, and refine our ability to speed through the narrative sections that keep readers turning the pages.
• In Week 4 we’ll talk about things like revision strategies and other topics that have raised their heads during the early weeks of September.

At the end of the month you’ll have a complete, polished story and a deeper understand of why, when, and how to use ‘show’ and ‘tell’.

(I’m hoping that, by the end of the month we’ll also have come up with a less annoying term to describe what we’re doing, so watch out for that!)

It’ll be a much slower-paced challenge than StoryADay May, so don’t panic if you have ‘back to school’ or other demands on your time. This will fit in around your other obligations, with just a little effort.

Next Steps

I’m still tightening some screws and adjusting some furniture behind the scenes, but I’ll have details about how you can sign up, ready for you, tomorrow*.

In the meantime, leave a comment here, and let me know how you feel about this (if you haven’t already).