[PUBLIC POST] Show and tell?

[ljwrites]

Note: I posted this last week but forgot to make it public. [/doofus] I've updated the date so it would show up in the timeline. Apologies for the mistake!

I'm listening to an audio lecture called Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques. I'm only three lectures in, but it's covering the bases pretty well. The second lecture was about the age-old admonishment of "Show, don't tell," and says that a) yes, showing is generally more evocative and immediate, but b) telling has its place as well. I remember quite a few occasions where editing to show instead of tell made my writing stronger, but I've gone in the other direction as well--simply summarizing an action that wasn't important instead of going into excruciating detail. What's your experience on this front? What are your thoughts on showing vs. telling? Is "show, don't tell" useful advice at all?

Also, I know this comm isn't generally about writing exercises but the end of Lecture 2 had a pretty interesting one if you want to try it: Describe a building, landscape, or object from the point of view of a parent whose child has just died--without mentioning the parent, child, or death.

Comments

[inkdust]

I think I see summary vs real-time action as more a question of pacing than show/tell. And priority - which actions are actually just stage dressing or (a common problem for me) play-by-play bits that honestly don't need to be mentioned at all. For me, show/tell awareness comes up most often in two ways - first, in description, where I make an effort to describe settings and situations via sentences where the character is interacting with them in some way and minimize "[noun] was [adjective]." Second, when it comes to character feelings, where I usually try to avoid emotion words and attempt to convey with body language/imagery/syntax instead (with mixed success). That's where I think a lot of critique of -ly adverbs shows up - "he said angrily" and "she shook her head sadly" - when that tone and feeling could come through more organically with action and dialogue choice.
I think those are the areas I notice with show/tell because those are the ones that tend to throw me off when I see them done poorly. I'm less bothered by straightforward action sentences than by a scene that feels wooden because the emotion or story mood was labeled for me instead of grown.

[ljwrites]

You've pointed out a leading area where "show, don't tell" makes a lot of sense as advice, especially with the second point.