Showing Vs Telling
One of the most common piece of writing advice is show don’t tell.
In saying that it’s not always so easy to implement. Showing is immersive and creates a deeper experience for the reader. It highlights the importance of details, actions or images showing the reader what’s going on. The opposite is explaining it to the reader or telling them.
You’ve probably heard of the famous line;
Don’t tell me the moon is shining show me the lit of light on the broken glass.
Anton Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history. Some of his famous plays are The Bear, The Wood Demon, and The SeaGull.
In May, 1886, Chekhov wrote to his brother Alexander, who had writing ambitions: “In descriptions of Nature one must seize on small details, grouping them so that when the reader closes his eyes he gets a picture. For instance, you’ll have a moonlit night if you write that on the mill dam a piece of glass from a broken bottle glittered like a bright little star, and that the black shadow of a dog or a wolf rolled past like a ball.”
Here are some examples of Tell vs Show:
* Example One
Tell: Michael was fearful of the King Cobra. Whenever he saw one he would run for his life.
Show: As the King cobra slithered through the grass, Micheal pressed his back up against the broad oak tree. Even though it was 100meters across the farm yard, the hairs on his neck stood tall and goose bumps ran up his arms. He was breathing so quickly it felt like he wasn’t breathing at all. The snake bellied towards Micheal with its tongue flickering in and out tasting the air for its next meal.
The effect of this two examples are very different. The first one is to the point. telling is more factual. Showing is more visceral with suspense and description. It’s more sensory meaning we get the feelings associated with it. A great way to show the depth of your hero making them more relatable. Showing also creates more authentic characters and scenes. In short showing dramatizes, telling summaries.
* More simple examples of Tell vs. Show
- It was cold
- An icicle was growing out of the crack in the water pipe set in for the long winter.
- It was windy
- the umbrella was totally bent out of shape as the wind thundered through the air.
- The castle was captured
- the new flag was hoisted greeted by triumph cheering.
- They found it funny
- he was rolling around the floor in hysterics hands clasp to the belly in delightful agony.
Most writers use a blend of telling and showing otherwise you can end up with a story that is long and filled with unnecessary descriptions. Telling is useful for demonstrating the passage of time, explaining important facts to the reader without laboring through the point.
Example of a blend of tell and show; When Mary Lennox was sent to Misslewaite Man- or to live with her uncle everybody, said she was the most disagreeable looking child ever seen. It was true too. She had a little thin face, a little thin body, thin light hair and a sour expression. Her hair was yellow and face was yellow because she had been born in India and had always been ill in one way or another.
From the Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Can you see the author is telling us facts and then goes on to describe them.
If the editor flags you’re writing for telling that means you need to provide details that activate the readers senses rather than telling them how to feel.
You also want to hide the fact that you are creating suspense, detail by having your writing spark the readers own imagination. Sometimes it’s the absence of information that draws us in. We don’t always need to point out the meaning or the point of the story we can imply the meaning while being authentic and real to the story. Readers like the process of discovery and solving puzzles. It should feel like the protagonist (main character) is thinking the details rather than the author butting in. If you are the point of focus like a memoir then the same rules apply with the goal of bring the past back to life.
It’s best to show when you want to covey emotion, opinions or sensations are best shown rather than telling.
Here are seven principals of showing;
- Use evidence to support your claim you want to avoid words like thinks, realises, believes, knows, wants and re- members, Unpack the scene so the reader feels what the characters feel.
- Replace the abstract with the Use strong effective details.
- Substitute vague descriptions with specific sensory details. Create scene with a detail setting.
- Avoid relying to much on body language
- Show emotion through dialog. This also reveals the character. Showing us the state of their relationships with others.
- Filter observations through the narrative
- Show the theme and reinforce it in subtle way that the readers may not pick up straight away
- Recap: The advantage of telling
At different times telling can be useful to use especially if you wish to speed the narrative up and share factual information
By: John R Spender