Course Overview

Overview

‘Show don’t tell’ is a rule taught badly for fifty years. The actual craft is a three-way decision: SHOW (dramatize the moment), TELL (summarize on purpose), or SKIP (don’t render it at all). The decision happens hundreds of times per draft. Most writers default to showing everything and end up with bloated drafts that drag in the wrong places. Four weeks on the actual choice — when to dramatize, when to summarize, when to skip entirely. By the end you can make the call in five seconds. Bring a draft. Leave with a decision skill that compounds across every future project.

What’s inside

• 4 modules, 20 lessons + decision kit — decision-focused, not rule-based
• Mindset Maven Test that names YOUR specific decision-bias pattern
• 4 guided meditations averaging 9 minutes — paired to decision practice
• Toolkit: the Three-Way Decision Card + the Show/Tell/Skip Audit Worksheet
• Lifetime access, unlimited retakes — the decision skill compounds across decades
• Companion blog post per module — public, perfect for the writer who’s been told ‘show don’t tell’ once too many times

Who this is for

• Novelists
• Memoirists
• Screenwriters
• Essayists

FAQs

Isn’t ‘show don’t tell’ the standard advice?
Yes, and it’s incomplete advice. Telling is its own craft. Skipping is its own craft. The three-way decision is what separates working writers from the rule-followers.

When is telling actually better than showing?
Module 2 covers this in detail. Short answer: when the moment is information-dense but emotionally low-stakes, when time needs to compress, when the reader needs an authorial hand briefly. Specific cases, specific moves.

What’s ‘skipping’?
The third option most writers forget. Sometimes the right move is to NOT render the moment at all — cut to after it happened, or before. The reader fills in the gap. Skipping is the hardest of the three to do well.

How does this relate to BM-187 and BM-188?
BM-185 teaches the THREE-way decision (show/tell/skip). BM-187 deepens TELLING as a craft. BM-188 goes deep on the scene-vs-summary decision specifically. Take them in order if you want the full sequence.

Can I retake?
Yes. Unlimited. The decision skill is foundational; you’ll come back.

Will this work for memoir?
Yes — memoir benefits more than fiction from learning when to skip. Memoirists tend to over-scene the small moments and under-scene the big ones. Module 1 covers the memoir-specific patterns.

What one student said

★★★★★

“I am a retired English teacher. I taught ‘show don’t tell’ to teenagers for thirty-one years. I taught it BADLY because I taught it as a rule, not as a decision. This course taught me show/tell/SKIP as the three-way choice. I owe several decades of students an apology. The framework is what should have been in the textbook. I am now writing a guide for English teachers based on the course, with the Book Maven’s permission. The course is also helping me write the historical novel I retired to write. Two birds.”

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