How to Show, Not Tell: The Complete Writing Guide
The girl was scared of the wilderness, her heart pounding at every frightening noise. But suddenly, her fear disappeared. She touched the ground, and it felt like her new guardian.
What’s wrong with this picture? Well, for one, this passage doesn’t actually paint much of a picture — and it fails to make me feel anything as a reader. That’s the core problem with writing that relies too much on telling. We’re told the girl is scared, that the noises are frightening, and that this place feels like a guardian. Yet there isn’t much evidence to back up those claims.
“Show, don’t tell” is a phrase you’ve probably heard often in the writing community, and people can have different definitions of “showing” and “telling.” I define “telling” as any time in the story when an important moment lacks depth in terms of detail or narrative voice. However, telling can also be an excellent tool for controlling the story’s pacing and delivering important information.
Author K.M. Weiland best captures the distinction:
“Showing dramatizes. Telling summarizes.”
But it can be hard to identify weak forms of telling in your own writing.
