Showing Motivation
One thing I think writers tend to do is tell motivation. I think sometimes we want to explain a character's past and why they're doing something.
I'm not talking about backstory dumps or huge paragraphs of telling. It could be only a line.
The movie Georgia Rule inspired this post. The granddaughter tells someone she was molested, but then she says she made it up. The viewer is left to figure out the truth based on nothing more than the character's actions.
That's showing motivation. In the movie, we're not told:
The mom's an alcoholic so the daughter is an enabler Instead, the daughter acts in certain ways and the informed viewer can guess at her motivation.
The daughter was molested Instead, we're shown how the daughter acts with the opposite sex and we're left to draw our own conclusions on why she does what she does.
It's tempting to tell the reader why a character is acting a certain way, but sometimes I think the story is much stronger if we let the reader intuit the reason.
Do you like to tell motivation rather than use actions to show it? Did you see this movie?
I'm not talking about backstory dumps or huge paragraphs of telling. It could be only a line.
The movie Georgia Rule inspired this post. The granddaughter tells someone she was molested, but then she says she made it up. The viewer is left to figure out the truth based on nothing more than the character's actions.
That's showing motivation. In the movie, we're not told:
The mom's an alcoholic so the daughter is an enabler Instead, the daughter acts in certain ways and the informed viewer can guess at her motivation.
The daughter was molested Instead, we're shown how the daughter acts with the opposite sex and we're left to draw our own conclusions on why she does what she does.
It's tempting to tell the reader why a character is acting a certain way, but sometimes I think the story is much stronger if we let the reader intuit the reason.
Do you like to tell motivation rather than use actions to show it? Did you see this movie?
Comments
I try to let the characters tell the story by their actions and words and let the reader follow along and learn as they go... "Show not tell."
I didn't see that movie, but I heard about the scuttle behind the scenes when it came out.
~ Wendy
Funny about the movie. When I saw it I hadn't heard anything, but afterwards I found out about the drama and also it got bad reviews.
I love showing motivation and character by action - it's a fave thing for me!
Hi Diane,
The movie got bad reviews but I really liked it...so, it's just my opinion that it was well-written.
Guess I always prefer action. Now I want to see the movie!!!!
You've got such great thoughts.
Patti
Warning, Appaloosa is NOT Christian fiction. It IS extremely tight writing with no telling that I could find.
Then again, if you don't do it right, then the book is way to cryptic to be understood...like mine, mine might be too cryptic.
Erica, I've heard so much about him as a writer. My TBR pile is getting too huge. *sigh* Thanks for sharing about that.
Julie, I think the fact that you're aware of this is a huge plus. You'll figure it out, I bet. :-) And don't forget, telling is a part of writing too, so don't cut all of it. :-) It's a balance.
I think is true; it's so much easier to tell motivation (as with telling anything). But we have to lay it right, layer it right, to get the best result.
Jessica, your posts are always so smooth and informative. Thank you!
I think it might be easier to convey in a movie. Sometimes a good actor or actress shows something in their facial expression that tells us so much. Jodie Foster is good at this. And Tyne Daly.
:-) And yeah, telling is always a temptation.
Kathy, that's true. I'm always struggling to come up with new ways to show facial expressions. I often fall back on the same descriptions, so it's tough.
By the way, the plot of the movie sounds very difficult to create. Movie plots are usually not this good. Bravo for the excellent work of the writers.
Hi Shannon, thanks for stopping by, and your kind comment. :-)
Call me, uh, unmotivated? LOL!
I agree. I like it when things are shown and not told, but I also agree with what you and Wendy said: some things need to be clear.
Nice blog! :)
Point well taken.
I haven't seen this movie.
When reading, I like the clues authors leave that later prove significant. I'm not sure how well I incorporate this technique into my writing.
Blessings,
Susan :)
Karen L, me too.
Susan, I'm not sure how well I do this either. I try, and I can recognize it when it's done well, but for my own work it's harder to see things objectively.
Hi Dawn, thanks for stopping by and commenting. :-)
Hey Debra, you're right about it being tricky. Genre probably plays into this too. Contests are a different breed, imo, because they're usually writing readers as judges. And writers look at books differently than the average reader. At least, that's been my experience. So with contests it does seem like we have to leave less to the imagination sometimes...hmmm, hope I'm saying it right. Well, all this to say I agree with you. LOL
Trust me Tamika, I need this post too! Hahaa.
Hope you're having a fantastic Tuesday!!
Terri, it's something for me to work on too, definitely. I seem to go to extremes, either too much telling, or not enought.
Haven't seen that movie.
I am getting better about showing rather than telling-it makes it more fun for the reader to use their brain a little.
Jeanette, true. :-)
Sarah, me too!
Angie, yep. :-)
Dara, I worry too. Second-guessing is good...up to a certain point, right? :-)
I like learning as I go and sometimes leaving the motivation a bit of a mystery at first is a strong hook in and of itself.
Kanishk,
I hope you don't mind but I deleted your comment because I wasn't sure about the link. Thank you for stopping by and commenting! :-)