1. naruzeldamaster

    naruzeldamaster Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2021
    Messages:
    562
    Likes Received:
    160

    Style Is there ever a time to 'tell' ?

    Discussion in 'General Writing' started by naruzeldamaster, Apr 20, 2021.

    Like many rules, themes, and topics in writing, there's a time and a place for (almost) everything, barring grammar errors and things that are normally edited out during the editing process.

    One of the biggest rules is to show instead of tell, but is it a hard cut rule? Are there for examples, situations where 'showing' might bore the reader, or slow down the plot?
     
  2. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2019
    Messages:
    12,454
    Likes Received:
    13,500
    Location:
    Way, way out there
    There are definitely times for telling.

    Show when you want powerful visceral action, when you want to connect the reader with the characters and the story.

    Tell when you need to move things ahead, you've just done a killer showing scene, and you have some info to get across rapidly.
     
    Naomasa298 likes this.
  3. naruzeldamaster

    naruzeldamaster Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2021
    Messages:
    562
    Likes Received:
    160
    I think showing vs telling is the rule I'm having the most struggle sussing out when to do which one.
    When I think I'm showing, someone reading says I'm telling and vice versa haha.
     
  4. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2019
    Messages:
    12,454
    Likes Received:
    13,500
    Location:
    Way, way out there
    Check the Look Inside on this book: Understanding Show, Don't Tell: And Really Getting It

    It isn't a great book, but it does a decent job of getting the ideas across. It might help you understand it better. I don't have it in me tonight, I'm about burned out on posting for the day, ready to settle in and watch Pulp Fiction and then maybe Taxi Driver, which both came in today. But tomorrow I'll see if I can dig up a thread or two with some good discussion about it. Tell ya what, do something so when I log in in the morning I'll get pulled in to this thread. Like this post or quote it or something to remind me.
     
  5. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

    Joined:
    May 8, 2017
    Messages:
    4,744
    Likes Received:
    5,937
     
    Xoic likes this.
  6. Lazaares

    Lazaares Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Apr 16, 2020
    Messages:
    545
    Likes Received:
    686
    Location:
    Europe
    It is one of a couple "writing rules" thrown around a lot, but far from one of the biggest. The matter to understand is that you will always tell to a degree, and the advice is to try and show wherever possible.

    Travel/motion is the most "told" detail in fiction. When your character "takes the elevator to a floor", you are telling and not showing. Same with catching a cab home, unless you describe their discourse with the driver, their procuring the cash, glaring out the windows in awkward silence, etc.

    As others mentioned above, it's all about pacing and unnecessary details.

    There's also the curious case of Fade-to-Black scenarios; those are also "told" parts.
     
  7. ruskaya

    ruskaya Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2020
    Messages:
    571
    Likes Received:
    582
    Location:
    not a pro, yet very curious
    The more I read novels with the eye of a writer, the more I realize that there is as much need for told as for shown--including parts that look like showing but they contain many elements of telling. I think that the stress on showing is because we spend a lot of time learning how to tell in school, where we learn the importance of reporting knowledge (i.e.: telling) first, to be able to work with it after. When I read Alice Munro her writing is full of telling, and it is wonderful telling. She manages to make it as vivid and emotionally engaging as showing. This is not to say one shouldn't learn to show or to see the difference in the workings of the two. This is just a consideration about how the mantra of show-vs.-tell at times makes it feel like telling is inferior to showing--well, that is just how this mantra makes me feel :bigtongue:
     
  8. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2019
    Messages:
    12,454
    Likes Received:
    13,500
    Location:
    Way, way out there
    Thanks @Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Ok, here are 2 recent threads about showing vs telling:
    I laid out everything I know about it in those threads. Since then I haven't had any new insights, and I don't have it in me to write up the same stuff again, so I'll just link them here. Meanwhile, largely for my own benefit, I'll see if I can find some really good older threads about it, where some of the people who really know their stuff explain it.
     
    Rizona, ruskaya and B.E. Nugent like this.
  9. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2019
    Messages:
    12,454
    Likes Received:
    13,500
    Location:
    Way, way out there
    Here's a good thread about it from 2019: Show don't tell

    Lots of creative titles for these threads, huh? o_O The weird thing about this one is, half the people who posted on it are banned now. Were they the ones who dared to disagree with the standard dogma of Show, Don't Tell? :confused:

    Another good one: Senses in show don't tell
     
    Rizona, ruskaya and B.E. Nugent like this.
  10. Le Panda Du Mal

    Le Panda Du Mal Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2020
    Messages:
    588
    Likes Received:
    623
    There are times when "show, don't tell" is good advice; there are writers for whom it suits them as a general stylistic choice... but its elevation into a fixed rule is a contemporary fad. Sometimes these rules spring more from marketing concerns than anything related to sound artistic principles.
     
    B.E. Nugent likes this.
  11. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2019
    Messages:
    12,454
    Likes Received:
    13,500
    Location:
    Way, way out there
    Telling is also called Narrative Summary. Here's a nice article explaining it:
    Engaging Readers: Narrative vs. Narrative Summary

    For a subject like this it's best to get as many perspectives as you can from different sources to build up your understanding.
     
    B.E. Nugent likes this.

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice