Quick share!

Note: Obviously, I won't vote this post as the winner. What a cheater.

I only made these challenges to share tips I have so I can help other people be better writers, and get them thinking on how to stand out and avoid tropes or do them better.

The easiest method to tell a reader information is to show and not tell. There are other ways, however. The challenge is to find the other ones!

Thank you so much and amazing job those who posted one already. You did far better than I expected.

Tactic 1 - show and not tell (show through actions and dialog instead of telling through narration)

this is the difference between:

'Vernon Dersley, who was Harry's abusive and cruel uncle who treated him like a servant and never let him eat anything really tastey...'

vs.

'The door rattled as someone banged on it as though the house was on fire. 'Get up, boy!' came Vernon Dursley's growl through the door. Harry groaned and rolled over, but he had no choice.

As he blearily wandered out from under the stairs, Vernon thrust a frying pan into his hands. 'Get to it, boy, and don't burn the bacon!' he snapped in Harry's face. 'It's Dudly's birthday!'

Careful not to burn himself (his shirts had grease splatters already from cooking the Sunday lunches) Harry managed to cook it close to perfect. Sneaking a peak around the wall, he thought, 'good, she's is still fussing over that fat son of hers.' Laughing inside since his aunt never let him try the bacon, he sneaked a tiny crisp off into his mouth.

Vernon just then came through the kitchen door, just in time to see it. Harry knew he was dead even before the newspaper smacked him hard on the back of the head.

'Uncle!' he cried. 'I never get to try it!'

'Save it for your cousin!' Vernon roared.