Recommending Michael L. Butler

He’s a master of show, not tell writing

I want to recommend a story to you. This is the story that made me feel the most emotion during this past week and those are alway my favorite stories.

Have you heard of Michael L Butler?

I would call his story, “Hoops Has Always Had A Special Place in My Heart,” a master of show, not tell writing, and it oozes with emotion.

The part I liked best is how a man can describe his love for basketball through the eyes of a nine-year-old child. That’s not easy to do.

I think his story can teach you to show, not tell in your stories and to write with emotion — so you can keep readers from splitting on your stories.

Show, not tell, please

Mike shows how his love for basketball began by watching a triple-overtime thriller in the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns and then going out to replay key plays in the driveway with his brother, me.

“I grabbed my worn red-white-and-blue basketball and replayed that last play over and over and over. Along with my younger brother Scot, we practiced buzzer-beaters, bank shots, and last-second free throws. We created clever basketball scenarios with little time on the clock. We shot for hours with no light until the familiar cry signaled our imaginary arena was closing.” — Michael L. Butler

I’d forgotten this memory, but Mike made me remember and feel this moment — and to feel his love of basketball beginning to form.

How did he do it?

He shows, not tells. He gives details and lots of description. I’m writing this because I assume you want to be a better writer, so take a look at how the details let you to visualize Mike’s love for basketball.

I popped off the couch with every move Magic made. Every opponent Magic faked. Even when he didn’t have the ball, I’d be watching him.

I wanted to dribble between my legs, spin the ball on my finger, and do behind-the-back no-look passes to teammates.

Ah, the crackerjack-sized Dodds Hall gymnasium and the delicious smell of buttery popcorn creeping in from the lobby, the theme song from SWAT playing as Fredonia’s finest Jeff Beal and Danny Tramuda raced onto the court.

Showing lets you write with your ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and hands. It makes your writing come alive through your five senses if you use them.

Why did God give you five senses? It’s to make your writing better, among other things.

Give me emotions, please

Another quality I liked in Mike’s story is how shows the emotions basketball evoked within him — again from the perspective of a kid.

Wow. Just wow. I’ll never forget that first game. Nor will I forget my reaction.

I was in heaven. Blue Devil heaven. It was like a young boy’s first crush.

I fell in love with the joy, excitement, and mystery of basketball that day.

I had to keep score. It was an obsession. A yearning. A desire. I had to know how many points each and every player scored.

See, you show by giving details and description to place a reader in a scene, but then you tell how you felt about what happened. And Mike’s ending drills down deep into his emotions to tell what he felt about basketball and his dad:

Basketball is also connected to my last memory of my dad.

It was December 28, 1986, when my dad, my mom, my brother Scot, and myself ventured to Hollywood’s famous Chinese Mann Theater to see the movie Hoosiers, my favorite movie of all time.

I cried. I laughed. I felt chills throughout the movie.

Basketball was never closer to my heart. The deeply embedded message of fulfilling a dream, getting a second chance, overcoming odds, and building relationships. These were lessons for life.

“I love you, guys,” Gene Hackman says at the very end of the movie.

I watch this movie religiously every October and March. Every time I hear that impactful, emotionally-filled line, a tear emerges from my eye and rolls down my cheek as I think of my father, who passed of a heart attack a few short months later, leaving me devasted and lost.

Wow. Just wow.

Okay, I stole those lines from my brother. But that’s how I felt reading Mike’s story about his love for basketball reminding him of his love for his dad.

I try to learn something about writing from every story I read and wrote this story to point out ways you can improve your writing.

I encourage you to take a five-minute crash course in “show, not tell” writing, and how to write with more emotion by reading Mike’s basketball story.

I’m not just saying this because he’s my bro.

This dude can write.

Three other sports stories I liked this past week:

Do you want to win $100? The Press Box is having a sports writing tournament modeled after March Madness. Here’s the prompt for the opening round and more details. Tagging to let you know: Jane Kelley, The Sober Vegan Yogi, Lu Skerdoo, Mary DeVries, Carlo Zeno, Cristina Cattai, Taylor Davidson, Annie Trevaskis, Evon, Deborah Camp, Christopher Robin, Ruby Lee. Timothy J. Sabo, MarkfromBoston 🌻Ukraine, JF Danskin, Sean Cordes, Laurie Morin, Tony U. Francisco, Angie Mangino, Dad On The Spectrum, Sreese, Donna Lynn, Kirby Workes, Andy Spears, J.R. Spiers, Sam Ochstein, PJ Kaplan.

It can be a quirky story. Those to me stand out as the best sports stories. Kind of like my brother’s hat in our YouTube video on movies about writing:

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