Here's the key:
1) Active voice centers around verbs.
2) Choose verbs that paint a picture, so that you don't HAVE to paint a picture with added words before or after the verb. Remember, verbs were meant to do the heavy lifting, modifiers/descriptors were not.
3) Voila! You have crafted a "showing" sentence. Anyone else ever have trouble understanding "show vs. tell"? I had a long journey to that point. It all boils down to this:
Don't TELL that Johnny was bored:
Johnny was so bored that he fell asleep. <---- Verb= "was." Not very action-packed. Can't tell much from it.
SHOW that Johnny was bored:
Johnny's mind wandered. His head nodded until he finally dropped it to the desk in slumber. <--Verbs= wandered, nodded, dropped. Actions that show boredom without even having to say the word "boredom."
See that?
He read the book.
He devoured the book.
He trudged through the book.
Same (or nearly the same) number of words, but by just swapping out one or two bland verbs for more precise verbs, the entire meaning changes. A picture is painted. You...have...SHOWN!
What was your journey towards undersanding "showing vs. telling" in your writing? Share your insight, by all means!
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