Welcome to another installment of NTAG�s monthly newspaper, The Neopian Extra. Well, NTAG�s gone through a few changes this past month, but it continues to get better and better. The biggest change, of course, is our new ranking system. While we�ve always maintained that ranks is not that important around here-- we�re all just people who love the NT when it comes down to it, after all-- I also feel this was a valuable adjustment to make. In addition, more and more members continue to get published, our little experiment the Round Series is halfway done and turning out better than I could have imagined, the New World activity is drawing to a close, and a series of interesting Misters have visited the guild. And now the other big change: many of us are heading back to school as Fall approaches. And while some of us may not be able to visit NTAG quite as often as we face all of the challenges of school-- some of us for the first or last time at a particular institution-- I�m confident that NTAG will continue to be a haven that we can all drop in on to chat with, encourage, and support each other any time. Until next month, NTAGers!

Now on to my tip for this month: "show and tell." No, I�m not talking about every other Friday in elementary school when you brought your favorite geode to show off. I�m referring to "showing" and "telling"-- two different ways of writing. "Telling," as you might guess, involves simply telling your reader what happened, while "showing" shows them what happened-- essentially painting a picture with words. Let me give some examples:

Telling: Bob went to the store and bought a baabaa. He took it home and decided to name it George. From then on, Bob and George were best friends and went everywhere together.

Showing: Bob walked slowly up to the Petpet Shop window, pressing his paws up against the glass. His eyes shone excitedly as they danced around the shop, gazing at the playing puppyblews, snoozing angelpusses, and hissing cobralls. Finally, his eyes came to rest on the perfect petpet: a tiny, snow-white baabaa with big, blue eyes.

As you can see, because of the added detail and description, what only took one sentence to "tell" took quite a few to "show." "Showing" is an effective way to flesh out a piece of writing, so that something that was just a few sentences in the first example could possibly be made into an entire story. If I�ve done my job, the readers of the "show" example should actually be able to "see" what�s happening in their minds� eyes, to experience it almost as if they were there. Emotions, not just actions, can also be either "told" or "shown":

Telling: Fluffy was angry at Schnookums.

Showing: Fluffy stormed into the house, slamming the door behind her. "When I get a hold of Schnookums," she growled, "I�m going to..." She couldn�t even finish her sentence, but simply clenched her fists and roared.

As you can hopefully tell, "showing" can be a great way to write a story. It�s often much more interesting than "telling" and more convincing, because it gives your readers proof of what you tell them; you see for yourself that Fluffy is angry, rather than just taking my word for it. It engages readers by making them feel as if they are inside of the story, not just reading it, so they can relate to the characters more easily.

Unfortunately, I read many stories that are all "telling" and no "showing." They come off as more of an outline for a story than a story and don�t capture the reader�s attention. If your story seems dull or lifeless and you can�t figure out why, pay attention to whether you simply "tell" all of the time. If you do, adding some "showing" can really bring your story to life. Many writers can see their stories taking place in their minds almost like a movie-- do your best to transfer that movie onto the page for your readers to see too.

On the other hand, a story shouldn�t be all "showing" either, as great as it is. After all, this would make your story too long, especially for Neopets, and nobody wants to read a detailed description of the omelet your pet had for breakfast when the main point of the story is that he saved Neopia from Dr. Sloth later in the day. As dull as my examples of it may have been, "telling" is just as important as "showing" if you know the right places to use it.

Some common instances in which you should use "telling" are for jumps in time and place. If your character gets an assignment from Judge Hog at the Defenders of Neopia building to go to a haunted house to fight the Ghost Lupe, you don�t have to document the entire trip from the Defenders of Neopia building to the haunted house-- unless something important to your story happens during that trip. Concentrate your "showing" on the significant events in your story (such as talking to Judge Hog and arriving at the haunted house) and your "telling" on the bridges between those events (such as the trip from Defenders to the house). "Telling" is also useful for giving the reader an idea of your characters� past-- whether it�s the distant past (Jojo joined the Defenders years ago after his owner was robbed) or the recent past (Jojo had received a call from Judge Hog half an hour ago telling him to get to the station immediately.)

Of course, you could also use flashbacks to "show" your characters� pasts. Ultimately, it�s all up to you to decide what serves your plot the best and how best to blend the two different storytelling elements of "show" and "tell" now that you know what they are. You may have to consider it a lot at first, but after a while it will begin to come to you more naturally, although, as with all things writing, you can never be perfect, but you can always keep improving. Good luck and happy "show and tell!"