Show, Don't Tell: Crafting Snappy Scenes and Sentences in Nonfiction

As writers, we often get the advice to “show, don’t tell” in our writing, but what does this mean on the page?

This webinar will show you how to inject tension and emotion into your nonfiction writing by crafting scenes and snappy sentences. Scenes and snappy sentences put your reader into the story, allowing them to experience the story action and emotion first-hand versus being told (by the writer) what to feel or think. 

This webinar covers: 

• Examples of effective scenes (and sentences) from mentor texts showcasing a broad range of nonfiction genres and categories, including both narrative and expository writing
• The basic components of crafting scenes and sensory-rich sentences
• Tips for deciding which parts of your story should be written in minute-by-minute action versus which can be summarized
• A guide for how to find and mine research sources for concrete details required to write scenes and sensory-rich sentences

Who is this for?

• All writers of nonfiction from picture book to young adult
• Writers of both expository and narrative nonfiction
• Any writer of nonfiction (or even fiction) who has received the feedback that they need to “show don’t tell”
• Any nonfiction writer struggling to get tension and emotion on the page

What you get:

• Two scene checklist handouts -- one for narrative scenes, another for expository
• Lifetime access to the 60-minute webinar (Please allow 24 hours to be granted access to the video).

NOTE: For those who attended my Show, Don't Tell Webinar at The Writing Barn in November, 2023, this is the same course content.