Show don't tell

Show don’t tell is advice you’ll often hear or read. Showing your readers what is happening and how your characters are feeling will engage your readers with the story enabling them to become part of it; when your characters feel scared, jubilant, or jealous your readers will feel it too.

It is important to say that when you write your first draft do not worry about whether you are showing or telling – just get your story written using the techniques that suit you best – polishing your writing, including converting any telling into showing, comes with the rewrite (or rewrites).

So what is showing and telling?

Jason was upset, is telling.

Jason felt that familiar lump rise in his throat, as he swallowed hard he felt the tears form in the corners of his eyes, is showing. Note how use of the word familiar also shows something – Jason has been upset before, probably on several occasions.

It was raining, is telling.

George opened his umbrella, is a move towards showing however this could be improved e.g. George stood in the relative shelter of the doorway as he fumbled with the catch of his umbrella.

In essence telling is you, as the author, talking to the reader – telling them what is happening, the readers focus is on what you have to say next. Showing is allowing the reader to see and experience what is happening and make judgements about the characters as a result – the reader engages with the story, cares about the characters, feels the emotion and will keep turning the pages until they reach the end of the book; you, as the author, are not part of the story.

There are occasions when you have to tell the reader, or narrate, some vital information; this might be setting the scene or providing some factual information, e.g. the year was 2027 and the young men who had survived the war were beginning to return or 10 years later. Consider what the readers need to know that is not a direct part of the story however has an impact on it. In the first example the reader needs to know there has been a war, only young men fought in this war, not all survived and the war was now over. The story starts at the end of the war when the men are returning, the war itself is not part of the story although the impact of the war is very much part of the story. The second example tells the passage of time, you could show this by ending one chapter with the birth of a baby and starting the next chapter with their tenth birthday party – you have to decide which is most effective for your story.

As an exercise take a piece of your own writing or that from a novel you have enjoyed. Identify where there is showing and where there is telling. Try rewriting a paragraph or two converting any telling into showing.

Happy writing.