Dear Reader
One of the most frequently-repeated snippets of advice for writers, and most essential, is also one of the most frequently misunderstood, so we decided to go in-depth on ‘show not tell’ this month. The difficulty seems to arise from an element of misinterpretation: all writing is, after all, imparting of information, so the ‘telling’ writer, perhaps attempting to take on board other advice about keeping it concise or killing darlings, gets right to the heart of it and conveys the information. And that approach does have its place. Perhaps most obviously, between your chapters, say, ‘Five years passed.’ Attempt to show that, rather than tell it, and your story will never get started. Less flippantly, you need some telling as a counterbalance, if nothing else, to your showing. Perhaps it could be summarised as, tell the trivial, so that you have space and time to show the essential. Show the parts that put readers into your scene, that make them empathise with your characters, that bring your story to life. Tell the parts you can’t avoid putting in but want readers to gloss over.
The advice is often demonstrated per Chekhov. ‘Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.’ So with that sterling misquote showing you what I’ve (irony noted) been trying to tell, I’ll direct you to p12 for a more thorough discussion of the topic.