Read up on improving your writing, and you will hit more advice about show vs. tell than cars during rush hour in a big city. So why am I writing about it too?
Because I’ve got something different to say. Brace yourselves. Are you ready? Telling isn’t always bad. Showing isn’t always good.
Still breathing? Still with me? Do you want to come at me with pitchforks, or at least erasers or the delete button?
Hold your horses for a second. And see if you still disagree at the end.
It doesn’t matter if I’m reading fiction or non-fiction. Whether I’m reading an article or a novel, too many people have taken the “Show, Don’t tell” advice to heart.
And the result isn’t as magical and engaging as a lot of writing experts promise.
Why?
Imagine you’re reading a writer who shows and never tells. Not if she can help it. Vivid imagery formed in the reader’s head is better than directly coming out and saying it, right? So let me “show” you, and you tell me when your eyes are starting to droop, and you are stifling more yawns than you care to:
- Drops were flowing from every pore on Vivian’s skin after her run.
- The storm shook the wind so violently that most branches didn’t make it.
- The way Dawson towered over me made me feel like I was looking up at a giant from a fairy tale.
- The Yankee fans were buying drinks all around, talking over each other and laughing like they hadn’t for a while.
- I felt like my body was on fire. I stripped down to a tank top and shorts, but I still wanted to throw myself into an ice bath.
I give up. I can’t take it anymore. But you get the idea. Of course, doing the opposite repeatedly is also awful:
- Vivian sweated way too much.
- The storm damaged many trees.
- Dawson was so much taller than me.
- Yankees won the game, and the fans are happy.
- It was just really hot.
The idea is to mix and match so that the readers aren’t bored. You don’t want them to be taken away from the story and reminded that they are not really a part of it, that they are just reading.
It’s also important to know when to use which. Here’s a sample I used in my How to Write an Amazing Romance Novel book, which features writing a lot of practical writing advice that can be used for most genres:
- Older generations considered this to be the mid-life. He was neither a young man nor a middle-aged guy. He wasn’t exactly starting out, but “middle” didn’t ring true as to where he was. People needed to invent a world for him. Mature seemed so finite. Immature days were behind him. Wrinkles had started to play peek-a-boo on his face…
- He was 35.
I personally prefer the second one, but each to their own. When to pick which also depends on where you are in the story, and where the character is in that given moment. The first one is appropriate if he is feeling a bit lost on the day of his birthday. It is certainly a mistake if he is being chased down the street by a serial killer. Whether you show, tell or do both, your most important mission is not to lose your reader’s attention. They need to remain curious. They need to want to keep the pages turning. Sometimes, falling in love with our words is just as easy as hating them. Try to think like a reader when you edit.
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How about you? How do you balance show and tell in your writing?
