100 Things You Should Know About Writing (Part 1)

14) Showing vs Telling

Just before I start, I want to point out that this is probably going to be the most difficult section I've written so far, simply because it's so incredibly difficult to get the point across. So please bear with me. And ask me lots of questions at the end. 

I think the best thing to start is to look at what telling and showing actually means. I've noticed in some of my critiques that if I point out that a writer needs to show something more, they'll say they showed it in this chapter or that. But when I check out the line or scene that they're talking about, it'll become clear that they really told me what's going on. Which is probably the first source of confusion. Including something in your text does not consitute showing in itself. It's how you do it that matters. 

True showing in a story is to bring information across to the reader in a way that makes the reader feel like the information is coming through organically. Telling, in comparison, is a mere statement of information. 

Showing is very much in fashion these days, specifically because first person and third person limited are popular points of views to write from. The reason for this, at least from my point of view, is the question of narrative distance. As I've been saying for quite a few sections, a reader needs to connect to a character in order for them to care. And they need to care for tension to work, i.e. to make the reader want to turn the page to see what happens next. Or better yet, to make the reader forget they're turning pages at all. This is the problem with narrative distance. It makes it harder for a reader to connect to a character, because there's always a buffer in the way. This buffer prevents, at least to some extent, the reader from feeling what the character does, or experiencing the story as if standing with the character and living through the moment with him and her. Telling is this buffer. 

That's not to say that all telling is bad. Narrative distance is just another tool in a writer's tool box. How you as the writer use narrative distance is up to you. However, there is a sense of the absolute in this. Readers don't like a lot of telling in first person and third person limited stories. And you just can't put showing into a first or third person omniscient story. (Yes people, first person omniscient stories exist.) At least, you can't use showing in exactly the same way as you would in limited point of view stories. 

Having assumed that most of you write in some sort of limited point of view, I've decided to explain how to show first. For the next section, I'll be explaining narrators and how to use them. In other words: how to tell and to do it in a way a reader likes.

Right. Now that we have all this cleared up, let's get into the nitty gritty of showing. 

The first thing you should know is that you're never going to get rid of all the telling in a story. Telling is in fact something that adds coherence to the overall flow of your story. However, that does not give you permission to tell if you've settled on writing a limited point of view story. Far from it. All this means is that you need to tell through showing. This way, even if you're point blank telling the reader something, it still feels like the information is coming through naturally. 

For example: 

Pure telling:

She was furious. 

Showing:

She stared at the fool who'd brought in the bad news, a vein ticking at her temple, her skin turning a blotchy red.

Comparing the two, you can see that I said exactly the same thing. However, not only does the reader know in the latter example that the woman is upset, but he/she gets a sense of exactly how furious she is. More than that, in that one sentence, the reader also knows how the woman looks in her fury. Which is a lovely bonus, because it helps the reader stay in the scene.