Show don't tell. The age-old advice that seems to get thrown around almost always when giving a writer feedback. I dare say it's the most commonly used piece of feedback for novice authors. It is something new writers often seem to find very difficult to get right. Yet it's an incredibly important skill for authors. Use this tool right and your work improves by a mile!

While "show don't tell" is a commonly used phrase, it isn't very often explained in further detail. What exactly is it? And how do we use it right? This chapter aims to tell you all about it. While you're here though, let us know in the comments whether this is something you've ever struggled with. -->

Show don't tell

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/407294360024375846/?lp=true

The advice, "Show don't tell," indicates descriptions. In the most basic sense, it's saying that your writing should show us the scene, character, (re)action, etc. rather than simply telling us that it's happening. The difference is easier shown in an example. Let's look at this sentence:

Telling: The moon shone brightly.

This is a very telling sentence. Sure, readers now know that it's night, and that the moon is bright, but it's not very engaging. They can't picture the scene in their mind; all they can picture is that moon.

Something like this stimulates the imagination much more, making it easier for readers to picture the scene:

Showing: On the mill dam a piece of glass from a broken bottle glittered like a bright little star, and the black shadow of a wolf rolled past like a ball. (Anton Chekov)

As you might have noticed, the author of this sentence hasn't even used the word 'moon' in his description. Still, we get a much clearer image of this moon-lit setting than with the first sentence.

Why show?

https://www.deviantart.com/tnounsy/art/Underwater-temple-398886942

When people say, "Show don't tell," that makes it seem showing is the way to go, while telling is a bad thing. You might ask, why is that? Why is telling such a bad thing in a novel? After all, we're trying to tell a story, aren't we?

The answer is simple: telling is (usually) too abstract. A telling sentence will often come across as flat, while a showing sentence is much more engaging and stimulating. It brings the reader closer to your characters.

Telling: John shouted at Annie angrily.

Showing: John balled his hands to fists and stepped towards Annie. A loud ringing in his ears stopped his brain from working properly. "What the hell was that for?" he shouted, making her flinch. "Why would you do that? You've ruined everything!"

As you can see, the showing example gives us much more insight into what's going on with John, even though we still don't know what Annie actually did to make him angry. Showing can help us connect to characters, understand them better, and invest in the story more. Have you got your own example of show and tell? Let us know in the comments. -->

How to show:

https://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=189299

There are different ways to show your story. In the above examples we've mainly looked at brushing up your descriptions; using descriptions that show rather than tell. But there are other ways: you can also show things through a character's dialogue, or through their actions.

Consider this: if you want your readers to know that one of your characters can't be trusted, you could just have another character say (or think to themselves): "Bob is acting fishy. I don't trust him." But this is very telling. To get your readers more engaged, it is better to show us his untrustworthy character, through dialogue or actions. For example, Bob might claim something that the main character knows to be a lie. Or the main character might find him sneaking around, looking for something. Or a third character tells the main character of a time when Bob screwed them over. All of these are much more specific and much more engaging.

A few things are important to remember when you're trying to write in a showing way. First, it is important to use strong verbs. Weak verbs don't have a lot of character. They are very often used and therefore have little meaning. If you say "She's getting a new pen," readers will know she now has a new pen, but they don't know anything about how she got it. Did she buy it herself, did someone give it to her? Replace it with a strong verb by saying, "She steals a pen," – now the sentence suddenly says something about her!

Second, avoid adverbs. As Stephen King so beautifully said it, "The road to hell is paved with adverbs." Adverbs are an easy way out; they describe what you want to convey, but they aren't very specific. Strong verbs, again, are usually better. For example, when you're in the park taking a stroll and someone runs past you, you could say "he's running slowly," but that's a bit vague. Instead, use strong verbs and say "he's jogging." Another way to avoid adverbs is by describing the adverb. So instead of saying "she said flirtatiously," you could say, "she said while batting her eyelashes."

Third, focus on describing senses – feeling, hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting. There's a caveat here though: If you say "I feel cold", you're focusing on the senses, but you're still telling. Instead, try this: "The hairs on my arms stand on end. My whole body shivers. I blow on my fingers to try and warm them up a bit." The same goes when you're describing a setting. Rather than just saying there's a big mansion on the edge of town where it's always quiet and dark and people say there are ghosts there, you could focus on how your character can hear it creak in the distance, how it towers over you, how it seems to be a bit colder near there and it smells like mold and rot. Readers now get a much clearer picture of the house, even though you've only really talked about how it comes across to your character.

A few more tips to finish it off: Describe body language – a character's body language can say so much about how they feel or come across, without you having to tell us. Focus on actions and reactions – consider a character who betrays their friend. Readers will know how bad this is, by the other (betrayed) character's reaction. If this second character shrugs it off and continues off with their day, we know it wasn't so bad. If they get into a screaming match with the betrayer, we know this was a horrible thing. These reactions shape our view of both characters. And lastly but most importantly: Be specific. Your descriptions always need to be specific to have the most effect. This is shown in all the previous examples.

To practice, write a showing sentence using strong verbs and focusing on a description of the senses and let us know what you came up with in the comments. -->

To avoid or not to avoid?

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/5559199523359963/?lp=true

But is telling really so bad that we have to avoid it completely? No. It isn't. In fact, if you completely avoid telling and instead show everything, your story will become much, much longer than necessary and will get boring. The trick is to focus on the important things. Know when you need to show something and when telling is the way to go.

There are certain instances in which telling is okay. We'll go through a few of them, but this is definitely not an exhaustive list. The first one is to set up key events, at the start of a chapter for example. At the beginning of a new scene it's important to let the reader know where they are, which character we're with, and/or what time/day it is. This is information that could be best conveyed by just telling us. Even saying "In the meantime, over in the inn..." is a telling way of letting readers know where this scene is set. And that's perfectly fine.

Skipping time is another instance in which telling is often better. For example, in the Harry Potter series, each book plays out over the course of an entire year. If JK Rowling had to tell us every single small thing that happened during that year, she'd still be writing the first novel. And when she was done, we would never read it. Instead, she often uses little phrases like "A few days later," or "September slowly changed into October," or "over the next couple of weeks." These are telling, but absolutely acceptable ways of letting the reader know time has passed.

And finally, a reason to use tell is to convey important but mundane information. For example, if your scene starts with a spy getting information about their new mission, we don't then need to go into detail about how they get ready and all the things they pack and how they water their plants before leaving the house. Instead, you can quickly tell us this by saying, "after packing all the things she'd need, she left the house and..." One sentence, half a sentence even, can be enough in cases like this.

The main thing to take away from all this, is that neither showing nor telling is better than the other. What you need in every novel or story is a mix of both. If you're wondering how you can know when to use which, this is something that comes with experience. The more you practice showing and telling consciously, the more you'll get a feel for when to use what. You'll know what's right because it feels right.

To practice, take any of the showing sentences you wrote for us earlier and change it into a telling sentence. -->

What does show don't tell NOT mean?

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/34902965842472738/?lp=true

We've gone over lots of information in this chapter and you may have drawn a few conclusions from the examples. We want to set a few things straight though. This is what show don't tell does NOT mean:

Using more difficult words. You don't necessarily need a larger vocabulary to be able to use this writing tool. Your writing won't necessarily look flowery, or with lots of purple prose, when you use this. Not at all. Showing paragraphs can be just as simply worded as any telling paragraph. And a telling sentence can be just as complicatedly worded as a showing one.

Longer sentences and paragraphs. Showing doesn't necessarily make your writing longer. It often does, but it's not a rule. Consider this example:

Telling: The girl ran quickly through the alley, where it was very dark. She fell because her laces were loose. Her jaw hurt when she hit the ground. She felt more scared than she ever had before as she couldn't see anything because of the darkness.

Showing: The girl fled through the alley. Darkness blinded her. She tripped over her laces. Her chin stung and blood trickled down her neck. Shivering, she tried to find a way out, before the monster could catch her.

We've made sure to convey the exact same information in both sentences, and we've managed to keep the showing one shorter. It's all because we chose strong words, rather than having to describe them with adverbs.

See if you can do this too, with one of the sentences you've written for us before. Show us the result in the comments. -->

Some final words

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/564005553308269695/

As we mentioned before, show don't tell is a tricky tool to use. Many writers are struggling with this. It helps to be aware of what it is. As always, practice makes perfect. Go through your manuscript, find some telling sentences and see if you can make them into showing ones. Then go back, find some showing sentences and see if you can make them telling. The more you use these two consciously, the more you'll get a feeling for them. And the better your writing will be.

Feel free to discuss this topic in more depth, or ask us and your fellow writers questions, in the comments! -->

NDeMeer - Team of Dreams

If you have any ideas for an education piece, feel free to comment here with your request!