Why Establishing a Pattern and then Breaking it in Story is One of the Best Tools You Can Learn

S2_E23 – Why Establishing a Pattern and then Breaking it in Story is one of the Best Tools You can Learn

One of the primary rules that we learn as storytellers that we need to accomplish is show don't tell. But what I find is that many writers simply struggle with that concept. One reason why is because they're unclear exactly what it means, let alone how to accomplish it.

Today, I want to share with you a fantastic trick that you can use to start mastering this skill of showing vs. telling. Namely, you establish a pattern and then break it. The basic premise behind this technique is that you’re learning to think in terms of creating visual cues or images that your audience can interpret to determine what’s happening inside of the character, or where they are at emotionally. This works for their internal emotional journey as well as for developing character relationships. It’s a fantastic tool that all writers should master, because it’s so effective at communicating gobs of information to the audience. 

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WHAT'S NEXT? Join us next Thursday for another layer to this technique. Here, we’ve talked about establishing a pattern and breaking it. Next week, we’ll see this applied in a variety of different ways so that you can get an idea of how helpful this tool can be. 

NEED HELP? The Storyteller’s Mission online platform is your go-to place for help with all your writing needs. Sign up for one-on-one COACHING, get a SCRIPT CRITIQUE, or register for one of our  ADVANCED CLASSES ON WRITING today!

TOPIC REQUESTS?  If you have a question or a specific writing related topic that you would like Zena to consider addressing in a future podcast, SEND AN EMAIL to [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!

SPECIAL THANKS to CARLA PATULLO for the original music used in the intro and outro of this podcast. To find out more about this amazing talent, go to  www.carlapatullo.com