I'm sure you've heard the writing advice, "Show, don't tell." It applies equally to prose and to screenwriting, but how do you do it, exactly?
One of my favorite authors, Anton Chekhov, provides an oustanding example in the first paragraph of his short story, The Cook's Wedding:
GRISHA, a fat, solemn little person of seven, was standing by the kitchen door listening and peeping through the keyhole. In the kitchen something extraordinary, and in his opinion never seen before, was taking place. A big, thick-set, red-haired peasant, with a beard, and a drop of perspiration on his nose, wearing a cabman's full coat, was sitting at the kitchen table on which they chopped the meat and sliced the onions. He was balancing a saucer on the five fingers of his right hand and drinking tea out of it, and crunching sugar so loudly that it sent a shiver down Grisha's back. Aksinya Stepanovna, the old nurse, was sitting on the dirty stool facing him, and she, too, was drinking tea. Her face was grave, though at the same time it beamed with a kind of triumph. Pelageya, the cook, was busy at the stove, and was apparently trying to hide her face. And on her face Grisha saw a regular illumination: it was burning and shifting through every shade of colour, beginning with a crimson purple and ending with a deathly white. She was continually catching hold of knives, forks, bits of wood, and rags with trembling hands, moving, grumbling to herself, making a clatter, but in reality doing nothing. She did not once glance at the table at which they were drinking tea, and to the questions put to her by the nurse she gave jerky, sullen answers without turning her face.
Chekhov makes us wonder right away what is extraordinary about what the boy is seeing (and in the few words, 'a fat solumn little person of seven,' lets us know exactly what kind of child he is).
The details make the characters come alive. And without openly saying anything about what the characters are thinking he gives us plenty of evidence that some strong feelings are brewing.
It's a wonderful example of showing and of going deep into a scene.
I use this as an example in my book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass. In that book I also pass along the writing advice of more than 100 of the best classic and modern writers. I hope you'll take a look at it, but even if you don't, one thing to take away is that if you want to make your scenes come alive, get acquainted with the short stories of Anton Chekhov. See how he did it, then do it yourself!
