Show-Don’t-Tell is one of the cardinal rules for authors who want to engage readers and pull them into the story. But it’s one of the most challenging to understand and apply in our stories. So let’s break down the difference between the two and why one is usually better than the other.
What’s Telling? And What’s Wrong With It?
“Telling” is simply telling the reader something. The country was in turmoil. My sister has no manners. Angela is a lunatic. These situations are part of the story, so what’s wrong with just telling the reader?
Telling Explains Things to the Reader
In some situations, you want things explained as simply as possible: when someone’s giving directions; when you’re in a calculus class; when you’re on the phone with your neighbor who never stops talking and the kids will be home in thirty minutes!
But in fiction, telling is a form of talking down to the reader. It doesn’t give them any credit because the author is unintentionally saying I’m not entirely sure you’re capable of getting the point if I write it subtly, so I’ll make it super simple. It’s also a signal that you, as the author, are unsure of your own ability to make yourself understood without just stating things outright. Neither message is one you want to send.
Telling Interrupts the Flow of the Story
When the author writes that Angela is a lunatic, they’ve likely stopped the rest of the story to put this explanation out there. The pace jolts to a stop and the reader, who’s deeply involved in the story, is jerked out of it. None of this is good for the reader experience.
Telling Doesn’t Draw Readers In
Do you know someone who’s a really good storyteller? My husband tells great stories; granted, they’re usually embellished for effect, but that’s what makes them great—lots of emotion and hand-waving, little details, a smattering of completely made-up vocabulary to give it his own personal flair. When he tells a story, people are pulled in. This is what we want to achieve in our writing, but telling doesn’t accomplish this because it’s flat, without the details and emotion that pull readers in and make them feel part of the story.
What’s “Showing?” Why Is It Better?
Showing conveys information in a way that engages readers because it’s far more interesting than simply stating a fact. Showing usually gets more information across, too. Here’s an example of what you get with telling vs. showing.
The river was noisy. (Telling)
The sturdy stone bridge had no railing. Dara stood at the edge, watching the gentle Supine River turn crazy and wild where the river from Frost Berth joined it. It was particularly loud just below, where a branch had become tangled in the grasses near the pillars. The water gurgled and choked around it. Or was it the branch that was choking? Dara touched the soft scars that marred her upper arm. She felt a kinship with that branch. She was often choking these days, but it wasn’t water that squeezed her. (Showing)
The showing passage shows the volume of the river, but it reveals so much more. The sensory details create a multi-sensory experience for the reader, making it easy for them to picture the scene and feel like they’re part of it. This puts the reader in the character’s shoes, feeling and experiencing story events along with them.
Showing also allows the author to use the river to reveal something key about Dara’s backstory. And it creates intrigue for the reader, who wonders what the scars are from and why Dara feels choked. None of this would have been possible with a simple statement about the sound of the river.
As this example illustrates, showing brings the story to life for readers and puts them smack in the middle of it so they can share in the character’s experiences, emotions, and thoughts. Once on the outskirts simply listening to facts being relayed, they’re now part of the story, which is exactly where they want to be. For this reason, your reader will be more immersed in the story and invested in staying there if we show instead of tell.
So how do we identify the telling parts of a story? And how do we rewrite those bits as showing to maximize reader engagement and enjoyment? We’ve got you covered with this post.
Other Posts in This Series
Show-Don’t-Tell, Part 2
Dialogue Mechanics
Effective Dialogue Techniques
Semi-Colons & Other Tricky Punctuation Marks
Choosing the Right Details
Building a Balanced Character
Finding & Writing Your Character’s Voice
The Trouble with Infodumps
Character Arc in a Nutshell
Point of View Basics
Story Structure Models that Work
6 Comments.
[…] emerged from Motherhood Exile and have decided to just pick up where I left off. My last post dealt with showing vs. telling. It defined each technique and explained why telling is usually not […]
Excellent article, Becca!
I too remember when I was starting out, I was so frustrated when people just told me “show don’t tell” and never explained what that MEANT. They never showed me. 😉
Eventually some critters helped me out and it was one of those “aha” moments where I finally got it. 😛
I did an article on a similar topic on Merc Rants… I’m going to link to this one as well, since you did such an excellent job explaining it!
~Merc
I knew there was a book out there that I needed but couldn’t remember the name. Thanks for turning on the light bulb Angela! It’s written down and it’s something I’ll read when I’m ready to set aside my first WIP before I edit it.
While I haven’t read the next post yet, I just wanted to add that it’s important to have a balance of the two. Too much showing and your work will drown in description. Too little and it’ll be like reading stereo instructions. Balance it key.
Courtney, I don’t know about you, but the first time someone explained showing/telling to me, it was a HUGE lightbulb moment. I could see right off what a huge difference it could make in my writing if I could figure out how to implement it. Maybe that’s why it resonates so much–not because of my stellar examples (surprising, I know), but because the technique is so important to good writing.
And I agree with Angela: if anyone hasn’t read this book, go get it. It’s awesome. 🙂
Great post, Becca. Right now I’m re-reading Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King, and one of my favorite bits of advice about Showing Vs Telling is this:
“Telling your readers about your characters’ emotions is not the best way to get your readers involved. Far better to show WHY your characters behave the way they do.”
To illustrate this, they give an example: “You could tell a reader, ‘Amanda took one look at the hotel room and recoiled in disgust.’ or you could show the room in a way that makes the reader recoil in disgust for themselves.”
This book is a must have for any writer, so if anyone out there has not read it, I can’t stress enough that you’d better run out and get it immediately. They adequately show how “You don’t want to give your readers information. You want to give them experiences.”
There is a place for telling of course, but it isn’t when the writer is trying to convey emotion. (My viewpoint as a lunatic) 🙂
I have no idea why, but I LOVE reading people’s takes on show vs. tell. It’s probably a writing geek thing, but oh well. I just can’t get enough! This entry was great. I can’t wait for part 2.