You Have A Soft-spoken, Mild-mannered Friend Who Would Never Hurt A Fly. One Day, You Accidentally Overheard

An aye-write guide to Showing vs. Telling

I’ll bet that if you’ve ever taken an English class or a creative writing class, you’ll have come across the phrase “Show, don’t tell.”  It’s pretty much a creative writing staple! Anton Chekov once said “ Don’t tell me the moon is shining. Show me the glint of light on broken glass.” In other words, showing should help you to create mental pictures in a reader’s head.

Showing helps readers bond with the characters, helps them experience the emotions and action more vividly, and helps immerse them in the world you have created. So “show, not tell” is definitely not bad advice - in certain circumstances. But it has its place. More on that later. 

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So How do I Show? 

Dialogue

Thoughts/Feelings

Actions

Visual Details

So instead, of telling me “He was angry”, show me how his face face flushes red, how his throat tightens, how he slams his fist, how he raises his voice, how his jaw clenches, how he feels hot and prickly, how his breathing gets rapid, how his thoughts turn to static, etc.

Instead of telling me “The cafeteria was in chaos”, you could show me  someone covered in food and slowly turning crimson, children rampaging under the feet of helpless adults, frenzied shouting, etc. 

Handy Hint! Try to avoid phrases like “I heard”, “I felt”, “I smelled”, etc. These are still “telling words” (also known as filters) and may weaken your prose, as your readers could be taken out of the experience and you may lose their attention.

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Is Showing Always The Right Thing to Do? 

No! Showing is not always right and telling is not always wrong! It’s important to develop the skill and instinct to know when to use showing and when to use telling, as both can be appropriate in certain occasions. 

So, “Show, don’t tell” becomes “Show versus tell”. 

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What is Showing and Telling? 

Showing is “The grass caressed his feet and a smile softened his eyes. A hot puff of air brushed past his wrinkled cheek as the sky paled yellow, then crimson, and within a breath, electric indigo”

Telling is “The old man stood in the grass and relaxed as the sun went down.”

Both of these excerpts are perfectly acceptable to use in your writing! But both do different things, although their meanings are pretty much the same. The first example is immersive, sweeping, visual, engaging. The second example is much more pared back and functional. But both have their places in prose! 

Telling is functional. Think about when you tell people things. You tell your children dinner is ready. The news reporter tells you there’s a drop in crime rates. Your best friend tells you she’ll be late because her car broke down on the way to yours. These are brief and mundane moments in everyday life. 

So, do these deserve multiple paragraphs with sensory detail and action/feeling/thought for every little thing? Do you need to spend an entire paragraph agonising over a minor detail when there’s a sword dangling (physically or metaphorically) over your MC’s head? No. And I’ll explain why.

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When To Use Telling

As before, telling is functional. It’s brief. It’s efficient. It gives a gist of a situation without getting bogged down in detail.

Showing is slow, rich, expansive, and most certainly not efficient! 

Here’s an example of some telling: 

“Years passed, and I thought of Emily less and less. I confined her to some dark dusty corner of my brain. I had to elbow my memories of her to the side. I was too busy with other things. Finishing school, then university a year later. Life was full and enjoyable. But then, one dark cold September night…”

You can’t show this example, unless you wanted to waste page after page of your MC waking up, going through everyday life, to get to the point your actual story started. If you do that, you will likely kill off any interest a reader would have in your novel and likely, your book itself.

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Summing Up 

Showing: 

Should be used for anything dramatic

Uses thoughts, feelings, dialogue, action, and visual detail 

Will likely be used more than telling

Telling: 

Delivering factual information

Glossing over unnecessary details 

Connecting scenes

Showing the passage of time 

Adding backstory (not all at once!) 

REBLOG IF IT IS OKAY TO COME INTO YOUR INBOX AND SAY THE RANDOMEST SHIT I CAN THINK OF BECAUSE I REALLY WANT TO INTERACT WITH YOU.

Writing Notes: Markers for the "Big Five"

The 5-Factor Model of Personality

Lewis R. Goldberg has done the most systematic research on the Big Five using single-word trait adjectives.

According to Goldberg, key adjective markers of the Big Five are as follows:

Surgency or extraversion: talkative, extraverted, assertive, forward, outspoken versus shy, quiet, introverted, bashful, inhibited

Agreeableness: sympathetic, kind, warm, understanding, sincere versus unsympathetic, unkind, harsh, cruel

Conscientiousness: organized, neat, orderly, practical, prompt, meticulous versus disorganized, disorderly, careless, sloppy, impractical

Emotional stability: calm, relaxed, stable versus moody, anxious, insecure

Intellect or imagination: creative, imaginative, intellectual versus uncreative, unimaginative, unintellectual

Norman’s Markers for the Big Five

I. Extraversion or Surgency

Talkative – silent

Sociable – reclusive

Adventurous – cautious

Open – secretive

II. Agreeableness

Good-natured – irritable

Cooperative – negativistic

Mild/gentle – headstrong

Not jealous – jealous

III. Conscientiousness

Responsible – undependable

Scrupulous – unscrupulous

Persevering – quitting

Fussy/tidy – careless

IV. Emotional Stability

Calm – anxious

Composed – excitable

Not hypochondriacal – hypochondriacal

Poised – nervous/tense

V. Culture—Intellect, Openness

Intellectual – unreflective/narrow

Artistic – nonartistic

Imaginative – simple/direct

Polished/refined – crude/boorish

Source ⚜ More: On Psychology ⚜ Descriptors: Feelings ⚜ More Descriptors Worldbuilding ⚜ Plot ⚜ Character ⚜ Definitions of Emotions in Psychology

despite what popular opinion may lead you to believe, some rocks actually do have scientifically-proven auras! Unfortunately, those rocks are uranium and the aura is cancer. 

when a mutuals struggling but you know you can't say anything to help so you just like their post and hope they know they're not alone

The only person I know who can play with me on equal footing is Pei Wenxuan. Our matches are thrilling. Others aren't as skillful as him, and Su Rongqing always let me win on purpose. But Pei Wenxuan, that rascal, is bold and fierce.

THE PRINCESS ROYAL (2024) | Ep 2

Writing Description Notes:

Updated 6th June 2024 More writing tips, review tips & writing description notes

Facial Expressions

Masking Emotions

Smiles/Smirks/Grins

Eye Contact/Eye Movements

Blushing

Voice/Tone

Body Language/Idle Movement

Thoughts/Thinking/Focusing/Distracted

Silence

Memories

Happy/Content/Comforted

Love/Romance

Sadness/Crying/Hurt

Confidence/Determination/Hopeful

Surprised/Shocked

Guilt/Regret

Disgusted/Jealous

Uncertain/Doubtful/Worried

Anger/Rage

Laughter

Confused

Speechless/Tongue Tied

Fear/Terrified

Mental Pain

Physical Pain

Source: abdul_rabby___

You run a café on the edge of life and death. Souls who have been departed from their bodies temporarily, such as in comas or near-death experiences, can relax in your quaint cafe for as long as they need before they can either return to their bodies or begin their journey to the afterlife.