Showing, Telling, and Finding Your Voice

What You Will Learn

• Explain the difference between showing and telling
• Replace general words with specific details
• Describe and develop your own writing voice
• Avoid preachiness and clichés while keeping faith at the center

Lesson Notes

Show, Then Tell a Little

Telling names a feeling or fact: I was nervous. Showing lets the reader see it: I read the same line of the letter four times and still could not tell you what it said.

Jesus often taught by showing. In the parable of the prodigal son, He did not say the father forgave him. He showed it: when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him (Luke 15:20).

Telling is not wrong. Use it to connect scenes and to reflect. Show the moments that matter most, then tell a little about what they mean.

Specific Beats General

General words blur: flowers, food, a car, some music. Specific words paint: plastic daisies in a coffee can, grits with too much pepper, a blue station wagon with one gray door, my uncle's scratchy record of hymns.

Ask of each sentence: Could a reader picture this?

Your Voice

Voice is how you sound on the page: your word choices, rhythm, humor, and way of seeing. When Moses protested, I am not eloquent... I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue, God answered, I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say (Exodus 4:10, 12).

You do not need to sound literary or churchy. Write the way you would tell the story to someone you trust, then clean it up. Your family's sayings, your neighborhood's rhythms, and your plain words are part of your voice.

Let the Story Preach

Readers stop listening when every paragraph ends with a sermon. Trust your story. Let the change show, and place one Scripture where it truly landed in your life rather than ten Scriptures everywhere.

Watch for clichés, worn phrases like at the end of the day or it was a blessing in disguise. Replace them with what actually happened.

Key Terms

In-Class Activities

Telling to Showing Rewrite

Rewrite each telling sentence as two or three showing sentences: She was angry. / I was scared. / The house was poor but loving. / He was kind to me. / I felt free.

Talk It, Then Write It

Imagine telling a trusted friend about a small, funny, or happy moment from your life. Write it exactly as you would say it, slang and all. Then underline three phrases that sound most like you. Those phrases are clues to your voice.

Assignment: Revise Your Scene

Revise your Module 3 scene:

• Change at least three telling sentences into showing.
• Replace at least five general words with specific ones.
• Remove or replace any clichés.
• Read it aloud quietly to yourself. Change anything that does not sound like you.

Turn in both versions so your growth is visible.

Graded with the Module Assignment Rubric.

Reflection Journal

Moses said he was slow of speech, and God promised to be with his mouth (Exodus 4:10–12). Where have you doubted your voice? What would change if you believed God could use the way you naturally speak?

Prayer focus: Ask God to be with your mouth and your pen, and to help you write in the voice He gave you.

The Father Ran

Jesus could have said, The father forgave his son. Instead He showed it: when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him (Luke 15:20). We see the father running. We do not need to be told how he felt.

That is the heart of showing. I was nervous tells. I read the same line of the letter four times and still could not tell you what it said shows. Telling still has a place: it connects scenes and reflects on meaning. Show the moments that matter most, then tell a little about what they mean.

Your voice is how you sound on the page. Moses worried that he was slow of speech, and God answered, I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say (Exodus 4:10, 12). You do not need to sound literary or churchy. Your family's sayings, your neighborhood's rhythms, and your plain words are part of your voice.

When Bernadette read her first draft aloud, she laughed and said, This doesn't sound like me at all. (Bernadette is a composite example.) She rewrote it the way she would tell it to her cousin, then cleaned it up. The second draft was shorter, warmer, and unmistakably hers. Let the story preach; one Scripture where it truly landed is stronger than ten everywhere.

Think About It

1. What phrases or sayings sound most like you? ______________________
2. Where in your draft are you telling something you could show? ______________________
3. How does it feel to know God is with your mouth, and your pen? ______________________

Daily Devotions for Week 4

He Ran

But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.— Luke 15:20 (KJV)

Jesus showed the Father's love through action. Showing lets readers feel what words alone can only name.

Reflect: How has God run toward you?

Pray: Father, thank You for running to meet me.

Do: Rewrite one telling sentence as two showing sentences.

Teach Me What to Say

Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.— Exodus 4:12 (KJV)

Moses felt unqualified. God did not change Moses's voice; He promised to be with it.

Reflect: Where do you feel unqualified to write?

Pray: Lord, be with my mouth and my pen.

Do: Write a short memory exactly as you would say it to a friend.

A Ready Writer

my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.— Psalm 45:1 (KJV)

The psalmist's heart overflowed into words. A full heart is a good starting place for writing.

Reflect: What good matter is stirring in your heart?

Pray: Lord, make my pen ready for Your good matter.

Do: Write for ten minutes without stopping to correct anything.

Wonderfully Made

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.— Psalm 139:14 (KJV)

Your voice is part of how God made you. You do not need to sound like anyone else.

Reflect: What do you appreciate about the way you speak and see the world?

Pray: Lord, thank You for making me as I am.

Do: Underline three phrases in your writing that sound most like you.

A Word Fitly Spoken

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.— Proverbs 25:11 (KJV)

The right word in the right place is beautiful. Specific words paint pictures that general words cannot.

Reflect: What general word in your draft could become a specific one?

Pray: Lord, give me fitting words.

Do: Replace five general words in your scene with specific ones.