You're arguing that you can judge whether "the man is tall" is showing or telling, without added context, right? Sorry, "the man was tall". But I don't think the tense matters.
No, I'm saying I posted two examples side by side (technically, one after the other) to demonstrate the contrast between two sentences. Is, was, I wasn't paying attention, no, tense doesn't matter. However, in isolation, I still contend telling the audience your character is tall is telling. What you are talking about is, can it be something else when XYZ is added to it. That's a different statement.
Show and tell both exist in every book I've ever read. It comes down to expediency and what you want to put emphasis on. If a ship is lolling in the sea for 3 days and nothing much happens in that time I don't want the author describing the foamy wave tops, the movement of the mast and clanking of cleats for 100 pages. I'm quite happy to be told the ship lolled about in the sea for the next 3 days, I'll take it as a given the crew all ate, slept and had some meaningless conversations during that time. Lets just fast forward to the more interesting bit please. We all read books that span years in the lives of the characters, it doesn't mean we want to live their lives day by day. Although judging by Martin's epic number of pages I guess he forgot that. However, we as readers want to be shown in detail the fun bits and skipped over the boring bits because life is already too boring for most of us to waste more of it in the tedium of a fictional character bathing or washing their underwear. I guess the rule, but there isn't one, is to show the important parts and just tell the connecting parts which no-one cares much about. I'm reading the Magician King at the moment. There's a lot of tell in it, but I'm not complaining because the story is well paced and written anyway. If the important part of your woman giving birth is what's popping out then don't worry about writing paragraphs about her furrowed brow and beetroot coloured skin, nor the sweat that's beading on her forehead while she strains to breath from exertion. It will just feel like a red herring to the reader who is expecting all of this to be somehow significant.
"Show don't tell" means turn abstraction into action and imagery. "Fury" is an abstraction; "she furrowed her brow" is an action; "Her face was red" is imagery. Which do you find most engaging and interesting?
Fascinating since this is exactly how it was put last night by our fearless leader in my critique group. Was there a recent article describing it thusly?
This reminds me of S.I. Hayakawa's ladder of abstraction. As for the op's question - No. I think there needs to be a balance between show and tell. And often the problem between the two is the writer inserting himself into the scene and not trusting that he worded the actions right so he uses abstract helper words or generalizations to make sure the reader gets it. i.e. - he grimaced in disgust. Context should give the reader the knowledge that by the time he grimaces we'll know that he's disgusted. So if the context isn't showing it, that's when the tell is used. For me the worst of tell is about taking away the reader's right to examine the evidence ( scenes ) you've presented and allowing them to come to their own conclusions - Boy, this guy's a jerk or wow, this fighter is awesome. The best of tell is when you're moving swiftly along and you're simply reinforcing what the reader already has come to the conclusion of ( by now it's safe to say this guy is a jerk. ) Tell - conclusions/judgments Show - evidence/actions
I don't agree. This is the "sensory input" definition of "show", and that's absolutely not the one that I accept. I define "show" as "demonstrate".
Any time you allow the readers to draw their own conclusions about something, you can be said to be 'showing' rather than telling. Or, as @daemon said, allowing them to 'infer' something. If the readers are made to draw their own conclusions, rather than just being told what to think, it will involve a subconscious process that leaves them with a stronger impression. @ChickenFreak 's example ...being told the man is tall, versus watching him duck under the doorframe is a good example of this. If you're told somebody is tall, it can go in one ear and out the other. If, however, you WATCH them duck under a doorframe when they enter a normal-sized room, their image is pretty much imprinted on your brain. You watch a man do this, and your impression of his height is much more visual and memorable than just being told 'he was tall.' However, when you rely on inference, it usually takes a lot more story time to create the event than just telling them what to think, straight out. So, when you want to move quickly through a scene you would probably lean more heavily on telling, especially the bits that are relatively unimportant. Use the showing and inferring for when you want to slow the story down and leave a stronger visual and emotional impression. At least that's the way I work it myself.
Hey OP, your pal wants to wrap up in the words and enjoy the ride, so you can paint a sequence of pictures in his mind for him and have fun writing those images as interestingly as you like. Make him comfortable. Imagine his confidence. Or think of the anxiety you suffer reading one of our CW pieces when you don't know where you are or what is happening. You survive for two sentences then flounder, and leave the page. That's how I try to think with my little fiction. Though, suppose writing, say emotionally you can spread the palate knife a little and escape the eye. Enjoying your enthusiasm, good luck w the big story - you set me off last night, I wrote a whale novella almost...
I think you said this very well. It's not WHETHER you show or tell. It's WHEN. Knowing 'when' is the skill all writers need to master.
A short telling sentence can still force the reader to come up with a conclusion. For example, "the man was tall." sentence can infer feelings of other characters. Let's say a short man is unsure about asking a woman out. He finally gets the courage, but sees her talking to another man. He notes the man was tall and walks away. The reader might decide he left because he thought he had no chance with her.
Or Six foot three and chest like an American fridge Peter Sky lifted his pint to swallow, his elbow brushing and breaking Tommy Squirt's nose.
