Visual Imagery Literary Examples: Master Creative Writing

300+ Show Don’t Tell Examples

As a new writer, we almost always fall victim to the situation where we ‘tell’ too much and ‘show’ too less; our writing is too narrative but far less depictive.

‘Show, don’t tell’ is one of the most common (sometimes, over-emphasized) rules in fiction writing. And yet, it is neglected.

Check this infographic if you’re struggling to understand the difference between showing and telling.

If you know the differences, and yet you find it a struggle to maintain the balance between showing and telling, bookmark this article that has over 300 Show Don’t Tell Examples. Use these to turn bad writing into great writing.

These sentences are completely at your disposal. You can use them in your writing as they are. (Just put us in attributions, it’ll make us happy).

Before I begin, understand that there are 7 different types of imagery in literature:

Types of Imagery in literature

This article focuses on visual imagery.

Show Don’t Tell Examples for Visual Imagery:

Visual Imagery is about what writers can show the reader at a particular place; it could range from objects, other people, or something unusual. Let us take a look at the related example sentences:

1. The white frost creeping up on the windowpane made her look at her car covered under a 3-inch thick blanket of the snow. (A view from the balcony)
2. The man in the run-down brown leather jacket leaned against the pole; the strands of his greasy hair matted on the left side of his head, his long hawk nose smeared with black grease. The strings of his beard stood pointed and his eyes cast downwards. With a droopy back and a visible limp in his right leg, he struggled to stand. (Empty Street)
3. The deep yellow hues of the sunset drowned in and mixed with the blues of the sea. (Beach)
4. Her smile reached her ears as she bounce-walked to the park, her brown ringlets capered on her bare shoulders and the deep blues of her eyes twinkled in a faraway memory at a distance of miles away. (Park, Street)
5. The wings of the fan curved like a dog’s ears waggled with a raucous squeak at a speed that the air couldn’t reach the one sitting under it. (Bedroom)
6. The children dressed in yellow shirts and blue shorts scuttled all over the park running in each other and giggled upon falling down. Ignoring the soil covering their clothes and knees and their white socks blackened, the little kids cavorted in the park, their giggles and cheer reached the ears of the on-lookers. (Children’s Park)
7. The woman hummed on the tune of a parody song while her hands swilled the towel in a bucket brimmed with unscented foam and then rinsed in the bucket full of greywater. (Riverside)
8. Mommy hauled her little baby up in the air, placed him on the bed and prodded her fingers in his squishy skin eliciting fits of belly-laughs. (Bedroom)
9. The dimples dug deeper in the baby’s cheeks and the lone milky tooth shone in his mouth (Face)
10. Brown horned gazelle meandered about the tall grass blinking away the following flies; cushioned paws didn’t make sound and the gazelle didn’t know the danger lurking behind it. (Forest)
11. Turban-headed men gathered around the massive oak tree, and the grey handlebar mustache clad man in red turban slammed the deck of cards on the rock.
12. Alex wandered down the aisle of the mystery/thrillers hoping to find the book he wanted. But his gaze landed on the white nameless spine of all the books. (Book Shop)
13. Lisa found a lone table in the corner of the dingy faded pink wall. Struggling to reach her seat, she bumped and bustled into sweat-reeking people carrying burgers and coffee garbed brass trays. (Eating Joint)
14. Without waiting for a single person, Maia started walking in the direction of the mountain, ignoring the hoots of the owls and howls of the hounds, through the tall bushes ladened with thorns. (Definitely some eerie place)
15. Vanessa didn’t have to wait for the clock to strike 2, her mother stormed out of her room, slamming the door behind her and glaring at her daughter, daggers in her eyes ready to be shot at Vanessa.

As you have noticed, some of these examples are pretty long sentences that appear to be the chunks of specific details about a person, place or something that’s in that place. These sentences are completely at your disposal. You can use them in your writing as they are. (Just put us in attributions, it’ll make us happy).

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