Julie Broad explains why labeling people in your writing backfires. Instead of calling your boss abusive, show what they did: yelled, swore, threw things. Let readers see the facts and feel the impact on you.
So tip 2 show don't tell as much as you can. Instead of saying someone was a jerk or that they were abusive, just tell a factual story of what happened and let the reader draw their own conclusion. Tell your perspective of what happened and not your speculation as to why someone else behaved the way they did and how horrible that was. Stick to the impact on you. Really, this is a far more powerful technique to create a connection with your reader. Anyway, it's much better storytelling, so if your former boss walked in the room swearing and yelling at you for not turning your report in on the hour, just tell the story. You don't need to say my boss was mean and abusive. If you find yourself wanting to label someone, take a step back and ask yourself, how can I show this and not have to state it? Even if you say nice things about everyone, someone will be upset that you said nicer things about Aunt Sally than you did about them.
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