A to Z Blogging Challenge – Day 20

S is for Show, Don’t Tell

One of the most popular pieces of writing advice is “show, don’t tell.” But what do they mean by this?

Showing is when you reveal things about your characters, the story world, relationships, etc., as you go about advancing your story. With telling, you stop the story in its tracks, kill whatever momentum you had going, and back up like a dump truck to dump a ton of information onto your reader.

Good writing should evoke sensation in the reader – don’t just say “it’s raining”, help the reader experience the storm. Do this by being descriptive and involving the senses. Have them feel the cool, wetness on their skin, smell the ozone in the air, be deafened by the thunder and blinded by a flash of lightning.

Telling: She was afraid of the approaching storm.
Showing: She froze in place as lightning lit up the sky. Her heart pounded in her chest. She choked back a whimper when the flash was followed by a sharp crack of thunder. The moisture laden breeze swept over her sweat dampened skin leaving goose flesh in its wake.

Fiction is all about forging an emotional link between the author and the reader. One of the best ways to do this is by creating vivid images that immerse readers in the world of the fiction — not merely telling readers what’s happening, but showing it to them.

You want your reader invested in the character. You want the reader inside the action. That's the sign of good writing . . . to pull the reader out of his ordinary life and put him in the middle of someplace else. Showing them is an important way to do this. To help you show instead of tell, keep in mind the following:

~ Avoid overusing adverbs. Instead, use strong, specific verbs.
~ Use the five senses.
~ Don’t simply name feelings, let you characters experience them.
~ Use expressive dialogue to show the characters’ emotions and outlook.
~ Generate emotion through vivid writing and characters’ reactions.
~ Use well-placed details to bring scenes to life.

Does this mean all telling is bad? Not at all, telling does have its place. Use it for:

~ Slowing things down – a story that’s non-stop action can be exhausting for the reader. Telling, through narrative summary, can give the reader a breather after an extended, action-filled scene. It also varies the story’s rhythm.
~ Condensing recurring action – once a scene has been shown and the reader knows what it consists of, it doesn’t need to be stretched out into further scenes. It can be summarized instead. You can also summarize minor scenes that are similar to a key scene that will take place later on.
~ Minor characters – if a character doesn’t warrant a full scene, needed information can be delivered without straying unnecessarily from the plot line.
~ Transition between scenes - a brief event can smooth the way between bits of action or character interaction, without leaving an illogical gap or a sudden, unintentional jump in time.

The mark of a good writer is the ability to use both showing and telling to their best advantage. A successful story is one that has a balance between the two, and only you, as the writer, can decide how much should be shown, and how much should be told.