Is ‘show, don’t tell’ bad writing advice?
Show, don’t tell is one of the most common pieces of writing feedback you’ll receive as a fiction writer. I’ve personally received that writing feedback about a gazillion times. But besides feeling cliched and overused, is show, don’t tell good writing advice? My short answer is sometimes. Sometimes it’s the best writing advice and sometimes it’s the worst writing advice. But one thing is certain, it’s given as feedback too often by people who don’t have a clear idea of where and when it’s actually important. This blog post is aimed to help you understand when and where this advice should be applied. Once you understand this, your job as a writer or as someone providing or receiving feedback will become much easier.
What does show, don’t tell mean
When writers get the feedback show, don’t tell, it most often means that something should either be demonstrated or played out in a scene. This advice can apply to character traits, so for example, instead of telling your reader that your college-student main character is a party-animal who doesn’t care about her studies, you’re going to add some scenes that show this. Maybe the character wakes up hungover at noon, having missed her morning classes. Show don’t tell can also apply to character emotions. So, for example, instead of saying “He was angry.”, it’s much more effective to say, “He growled and punched a fist through the drywall.” Generally, what you want is for your readers to experience things so that they feel fully immersed in your story. However, there are circumstances when show, don’t tell is bad advice.
When show, don’t tell is bad advice
A writer’s job is definitely not to show every detail! Playing out everything would get extremely monotonous and boring for a reader. That’s why we have to use techniques such as summarizing events or skipping forward in time. You don’t want to describe in full detail your main character’s morning routine. A writer’s job is to keep a reader’s attention and to do that, we need to keep the story’s focus on the main plot question or problem. In other words, skip the boring details!
Let’s take the morning routine as an example. If your story is about a cowardly oil rigger who has to save the world from aliens, you probably don’t need to show his morning routine. The plot question is going to be something like, “Can the hero find the courage to step up and save the world from the aliens?” His morning routine is insignificant unless it is telling the reader something about his character. However, if your story is about a prudish, type-A librarian who has to save the world from aliens by reading out an erotic piece of poetry, then you might want to play out some of her morning routine. Why? Because you want to show how prudish/type-A she is. Maybe she keeps her breakfast cereal in Ziploc bags and measures out her milk each morning in quarter-cup portions. Why are you showing this? Because it’s more effective than saying, “The librarian was a prudish and type-A person.” Don’t show something unless there is compelling a plot or character reason to do so! Use summary to touch on things that don’t tie directly to your plot or character.
When show, don’t tell is good writing advice
We’ve explored some areas where show, don’t tell is good advice when it comes to your characters. Generally, the things you want to show in your story, or the actions you want to play out (rather than summarize) are going to be those that tie directly to the main plot or story problem. If you’re writing a romance novel, the main plot question is going to be something like “Will they get together despite the obstacles standing in their way?”. That means you’re going to focus on showing things that relate to this question and not showing things that don’t.
So, for example, in the setup or first act, you’re going to start by showing the characters’ obstacles, worldview and character flaws, plus their first meeting (inciting incident). In the second act, you’re going to show them together but with lots of conflict and tension because of their obstacles, worldviews or character flaws. In the final act, you’re going to show things coming to a breaking point (all is lost) and finally, reconciliation (climax) if the characters are both willing to change.
To summarize, only show what relates to the character development or the main plot question of the story. Anything outside of this question is not something you need to spend a lot of time showing.
My developmental editing services can help you assess which parts of your story should be played out in scene and which should be summarized. Knowing this key storytelling element can help you attract readers and keep them invested in your stories!
