Comments on: Showing vs. Telling

By: Showing vs Telling, Part Two | WRITERS HELPING WRITERSWRITERS HELPING WRITERS

Fri, 13 Dec 2013 00:14:58 +0000

[…] emerged from Motherhood Exile and have decided to just pick up where I left off. My last post dealt with showing vs. telling. It defined each technique and explained why telling is usually not […]

By: Merc

Merc — Fri, 30 May 2008 19:38:00 +0000

Excellent article, Becca!

I too remember when I was starting out, I was so frustrated when people just told me "show don't tell" and never explained what that MEANT. They never showed me. ;)

Eventually some critters helped me out and it was one of those "aha" moments where I finally got it. :P

I did an article on a similar topic on Merc Rants... I'm going to link to this one as well, since you did such an excellent job explaining it!

~Merc

By: Donna

Donna — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:40:00 +0000

I knew there was a book out there that I needed but couldn’t remember the name. Thanks for turning on the light bulb Angela! It’s written down and it’s something I’ll read when I’m ready to set aside my first WIP before I edit it.

While I haven’t read the next post yet, I just wanted to add that it’s important to have a balance of the two. Too much showing and your work will drown in description. Too little and it’ll be like reading stereo instructions. Balance it key.

By: Becca

Becca — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:27:00 +0000

Courtney, I don’t know about you, but the first time someone explained showing/telling to me, it was a HUGE lightbulb moment. I could see right off what a huge difference it could make in my writing if I could figure out how to implement it. Maybe that’s why it resonates so much–not because of my stellar examples (surprising, I know), but because the technique is so important to good writing.

And I agree with Angela: if anyone hasn’t read this book, go get it. It’s awesome. 🙂

By: Angela

Angela — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:07:00 +0000

Great post, Becca. Right now I'm re-reading Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King, and one of my favorite bits of advice about Showing Vs Telling is this:

"Telling your readers about your characters' emotions is not the best way to get your readers involved. Far better to show WHY your characters behave the way they do."

To illustrate this, they give an example: "You could tell a reader, 'Amanda took one look at the hotel room and recoiled in disgust.' or you could show the room in a way that makes the reader recoil in disgust for themselves."

This book is a must have for any writer, so if anyone out there has not read it, I can't stress enough that you'd better run out and get it immediately. They adequately show how "You don't want to give your readers information. You want to give them experiences."

There is a place for telling of course, but it isn't when the writer is trying to convey emotion. (My viewpoint as a lunatic) :-)

By: courtney

courtney — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:37:00 +0000

I have no idea why, but I LOVE reading people’s takes on show vs. tell. It’s probably a writing geek thing, but oh well. I just can’t get enough! This entry was great. I can’t wait for part 2.