Author: Lo Rin
Date:   04-23-05 00:48

I swear, everytime I have a conversation about writing, at some point, someone will say, 'Show, don't tell'. Now, in my mind, I'm positive I get what they mean. I probably couldn't put into words what they mean, but I think I know.

But, just to be sure, can someone give me an example of 'showing' and 'telling'?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Author: Mya Bell
Date:   04-23-05 03:22

Tell:

The monster came to the other side of the door and Arnie got scared.

Show:

Something flung itself against the door, rattling the hinges and splintering the wood. Sweat streamed down Arnie's face, soaking his collar as he pressed his back against the wall.

Telling is a somewhat disinterested description of events. Showing gives a sense of the characters' behavior and relation to their environment and often lets the reader intuit the significance of the actions.

Showing is often better, but not always.

Sometimes telling quickens the pace and is more direct. Showing tends to be used for more important passages and events that build atmosphere or suspense. Telling is sometimes more appropriate for incidental information or rapid time changes.

For example, if two main characters met on the bus, you might describe how one doesn't have enough change and the other helps out and they meet and fall in love, etc., etc.

However, if a couple of secondary characters follow the main characters onto the bus, you wouldn't want to devote a whole paragraph to their actions unless the information was important later or was significant to character development. In this case, it would be appropriate to simply say they boarded the bus behind the main characters. In other words, telling, instead of showing.

I hope that helps. The examples are trivial, but they should get the idea across.

--- Mya Bell

Author: Bob Highland
Date:   04-23-05 07:08

Good example from Mya.

IMO, this is one of the most important skills for a novelist to acquire - having an innate sense of when to show and when to tell.

For creating atmosphere, showing is always better. But for pacing, telling can maintain momentum in getting across a piece of information that is significant but where the fine details are not germane to the emotional thrust of the story.

Author: Sarah H.
Date:   04-23-05 07:27

Lo, show don't tell (to me) means writing your story in "real" time. Giving it play by play. Not skipping over things in summary. It also means not saying, "She was angry," but rather showing her anger, i.e. she crashed her coffee cup onto the table. (Ok - lousy example, but you get the idea.) Showing is where your voice as a writer really shines through.

Check on this old thread for more pointers - http://www.writers.net/forum/read.php?f=12&i=31662&t=31643

Author: Natalia
Date:   04-23-05 10:24

Lo-

Mya's example is great.

I think the peril is as with every rule...people get all excited about it and go overboard...sometimes, telling is actually better, depending on the situation.

And, it is often a matter of taste for the reader as well.

Just my humble opinion, anyway :)

-N

Author: jill smith
Date:   04-23-05 11:44

I have been told the difference it like telling is like reporting the actions that happened and show describes the scene, characters and actions. Mya's is a good example in my opinion.
Jill Smith

Author: Lo Rin
Date:   04-23-05 14:07

Thanks for the help:)

Author: Stanley Tweedle
Date:   04-23-05 14:24

It's bad because it's more complicated than showing or telling -- it's not black and white. It's more like something is closer to showing or closer to telling.

There are different ways to go for showing as well as for telling. It's like a graph of at least 12 dimensions. Things like viewpoint, objectivity, subjectivity, etc. are included.

Then on top of that readers always get confused by the showing. Whatever way you decided to show, you have to get it right so the neural pathways of language of the common people alive at the time process your words in a correct way that makes the writing produce the right pictures (actually all 5 senses) in their minds.

In short it's really all quite complex and I have to guess and check by critiques before I know I did it even close to right.

Author: Mya Bell
Date:   04-23-05 15:56

In short it's really all quite complex and I have to guess and check by critiques before I know I did it even close to right.

Good point, Stanley. Sometimes reader feedback is the only way to know for sure if you used the right words and struck the right balance.

--- Mya Bell

Author: Donna Pudick
Date:   04-23-05 18:36

Show/tell can be tricky. I like death scenes told from the victim's POV, very effective, and sadder than narrative. I also like author-narrated scenes giving me the POV of a main character (in moderation).

The scenes I hate most are: 1. an eye witness who is telling the story to someone else (I've read one good one in 10 years), 2. an event that's announced in a letter or a telegram and 3. a newspaper article describing an event.

Sometimes narration can be very clever and fun to read, depending on the skill of the writer. I'm currently reading a narration that's making me laugh out loud.

Author: Eric George
Date:   04-26-05 05:39

Show/tell is a guide line more than a rule... Trying to 'show' in the wrong place makes the text clumsy or even laughable.

An example:

"He looked out of the window. It was raining."

"He looked out of the window. Streaks of water were running down the glass and the passers-by were struggling with their umbrellas."

Go figure...