Sometimes It's "Don't Show, Kind of Tell"

While most of my readers know me from writing workshops or some other orbit of writers, a few readers also know me through my social media feed (primarily FaceBook, the platform formerly known as Twitter, etc. - feel free to drop a friend request). And those who know me through FaceBook are aware that I went through a very stressful adventure this week - a very life-in-the-balance situation (not my life, but still). There are a number of takeaways I got from this, including some I can use as a writer, but the life experience was so stirring I have to share.

One of my friends lives a few towns over and I visit her periodically. She is "along in her years" as she might say as a good lady of the south, and has lived on her own since her husband passed away five years ago. We have nice visits - sitting back, drinking scotch and talking about writing and the world at large. However, as someone of her years would attest, she was not doing as well as she'd like to lately. A few more doctor's appointments, a few extra prescriptions, more aches and pains, and so on. We'd talk about them, she'd just say she was being fussy, and life went on.

Then our local heat wave came to visit. Not as hot as some of the ones I've experienced here, but thick with humidity so the air had a weight to it. Now, my friend had air conditioning and no fear of using it, so I felt a little better that she would be okay. However, friends being the people we check in on just because we want to, I gave her a call.

No answer. No answering machine pick-up.

Okay, that was unusual. As a woman who was along in her years, technology was no longer her friend and on several occasions I had helped her work with the phone, her computer, her refrigerator, and basically anything that used electricity. I knew the answering machine was a little prone to problems, but this didn't seem right. Maybe she was visiting her friend, where their dogs would play together. Maybe she was getting her hair done. Maybe. Or maybe not.

I went to her house unannounced, and the concern rose. There was a package on the porch. Unusual. I knocked on the door - no answer. I didn't hear the A/C rumbling away. There was some mail in the mailbox, but not a lot. I knocked again - nothing. One of her cats hopped up in the window amidst the blinds, but that was it.

Now, here's the writing lesson here. Hopefully, you are interested in how this story ends. More to the point, you might be as worried as I was at the time. Why? Because I have only told you pieces of the story. I have focused on the absence of things, on the silence that makes us worry. Sometimes we show our characters and communicate a scene to the reader, and it is full and rich yet somehow lacking in any kind of suspense. By only offering pieces on information, by selecting specific pieces of the puzzle that elude to an image but don't reveal it, we draw our reader in and they start drawing their own conclusions as they read on, hoping for the happy ending. Does this work? Well, when I posted this situation on FaceBook asking for advice, I got over 140 responses - the most I ever received outside of my birthday.

Now if this had been a tragic story, I wouldn't have exploited my friend to make a point. It did turn out that my friend had a medical emergency and was in the hospital, but it happened before I even called. My friend is recovering nicely and doing well, and might finally take my advice and keep her cane by her side at all times. However, my adventure to her house during the heat wave provided an opportunity to present how sometimes it's all about not showing the whole story, but teasing the reader with just enough information to make them want more. And as for my friend (who requested her name be left out), well, she's a writer as well, so I am sure she appreciates how this came out.

And as a side lesson - always remember your cane!