Busting the Rules
Rule: Show, Don’t Tell
If you go on a course or pick up a book on writing, the chances are you’ll find this rule. Frequently quoted, often misunderstood.
Why this is a rule:
In its most basic form, Show, Don’t Tell means that you as a writer must rely on description rather than statement. For example, instead of telling the reader that the character is tall, you show she is tall by describing her in conversation with someone, ducking her head a little so she can hear them, or having the other person craning their neck to look up at her. Or, when your protagonist enters an old tenement building . . .
The hallway was smelly. vs. The stench of boiled cabbage filled her throat with the taste of bile.
The idea is to show things to the reader by using action, dialogue, description, and active verbs.
Why you should break it:
While it is usually great advice, you can follow that recommendation too far. Not everything in your characters’ lives or in a scene is important enough to be shown. Some details are better off not being shown, especially if they aren't that significant or if the timing is wrong.
Recently I was close to reading the finish of a murder story. Weapons were drawn. The enemies a few feet apart. Impossible to identify in the dark. One was going to leap into the space between them and fire. But which one? That was all I wanted to know at that crucial stage of the story. Which one? The writer began telling me the colour of the Persian carpet in the daylight and how the room was used in olden times. I couldn’t care less at that point! Just TELL me who shot who (or whom)!
If you show everything, you could very well end up with a huge tome of mind-boggling detail which no-one will want to finish!
For more ideas on this, go to my blog Tell me a Story? SHOW, DON'T TELL
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