What is Correct way of Showing and Telling?

[Tatsuo]

Its a problem I have been facing for a long time.
I do know the basics but on the more advanced level of writing I am kinda lost.

Am I supposed to tell how a characters feels?
Or should I instead tell their expressions and show their words?

May I get some advice from you seasoned writers?

 

[Deleted member 84247]

This is exactly why the "show don't tell" advice is garbage. Showing is a way of explaining things that doesn't directly tell the audience.

"Telling" would be saying things like "he was sad." To "show" this emotion, you could say, "he hung his head and trudged through the corridor." The second example doesn't say he is sad, but hanging one's head and trudging can evoke that feeling. Think of things that accompany certain emotions. Are they hanging their head? Are they dragging their feet? These are what people mean when they say "show don't tell."

 

[Tatsuo]

Thank you for your insight.
How about lines such as "He resigned his fate to the whims of the the gods" or "The death of his puppy still lingered on his mind the next day"
Are these considered telling?

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Thank you for your insight.
How about lines such as "He resigned his fate to the whims of the the gods" or "The death of his puppy still lingered on his mind the next day"
Are these considered telling?

These are considered telling. You would need to show him resigning his fate. An example of the first one would be letting nature take its course. If you resigned your fate, then you might not even look before you cross the road. The second example is even more "telling" than the first. You could show the death lingering in his mind by portraying the emotions. After the puppy died, what does he do the next day? If someone were slumped over the couch and looking at pictures of their puppy, that would paint the picture of the death lingering.

 

[Tatsuo]

I got the gist of it now.
I appreciate your help, you have relieved me of the difficult obstacles i was struggling with.
Once again Thanks

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Don't show all the times. You should try to balance showing and telling. It's hard, and there is no way to do it from the get go. You should write more and rely on your own feeling and experience. Editing helps, but there's no such thing as 'perfect' writing. You will always find pieces you don't like, so doing nothing but edits will lead you to nowhere.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

The real trick - and one many of us fail at - is finding a balance between showing and telling. Sometimes it just takes too many words to show and telling is the best or only option. Sometimes you MUST show and telling will just get between you and the reader's experience. It is a fine line and one only (if ever) through trial and error, IMO.

Don't show all the times. You should try to balance showing and telling. It's hard, and there is no way to do it from the get go. You should write more and rely on your own feeling and experience. Editing helps, but there's no such thing as 'perfect' writing. You will always find pieces you don't like, so doing nothing but edits will lead you to nowhere.

Ah, sorry - we were posting nearly the same thing at nearly the same time!

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Ah, sorry - we were posting nearly the same thing at nearly the same time!

Great minds think alike.

 

[Tatsuo]

You know
I once saw someone said that you should let readers guess stuff on their own like characters true feelings or intention or else the mystery and feeling of discovery will disappear

 

[Deleted member 84247]

You know
I once saw someone said that you should let readers guess stuff on their own like characters true feelings or intention or else the mystery and feeling of discovery will disappear

It will depend who you are writing for. If you want to write for an audience like that, then go for it. If you are writing web novels on this platform, RR, Webnovel, or others, you will likely not need to use showing as often. I will say that if you do more show than tell, your novel will have better rereadability. The reader can discover something new each time.

 

[Tatsuo]

Ok I now know the type of audience want to be writing for.

 

[miyoga]

One more thing to add to this is what you want the reader to feel.

Rellawing's Superluminal is a good example of telling us "this person is angry" but then goes on to SHOW us the cause and depths of the character's anger, which also led to us readers being angry. This was the first chapter by the way, it's worth reading (either the old version or the "ready-for-publishing" version going up now), super dark and reader beware should anyone choose to look.

 

[Corty]

This is exactly why the "show don't tell" advice is garbage. Showing is a way of explaining things that doesn't directly tell the audience.

"Telling" would be saying things like "he was sad." To "show" this emotion, you could say, "he hung his head and trudged through the corridor." The second example doesn't say he is sad, but hanging one's head and trudging can evoke that feeling. Think of things that accompany certain emotions. Are they hanging their head? Are they dragging their feet? These are what people mean when they say "show don't tell."

PREACH SISTAH!

You know
I once saw someone said that you should let readers guess stuff on their own like characters true feelings or intention or else the mystery and feeling of discovery will disappear

No. Any time I let them guess something, people come out of the woodwork and start bitching.

 

[Gray_Mann]

You know the best way to respond to this MEANINGLESS advice?

Tell them to shut up and read, or piss off. Simple as that.

No. Any time I let them guess something, people come out of the woodwork and start bitching.

I get so annoyed by people who say "use your imagination." NO! It's your story. So YOU tell me. I'm not doing the mental work for you. Though admittedly, most of my indignation for this, is mostly reserved for stories that have open-endings. I LOATHE that. Cowboy Bebop, as much as I love it, I still will never rewatch the series because of the ending.

Shinichiro Watanabe then had the nerve to say "its up to viewer, whether Spike survived." I haven't watched a single thing else made by him ever since reading that interview.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

You know the best way to respond to this MEANINGLESS advice?

Tell them to shut up and read, or piss off. Simple as that.

I get so annoyed by people who say "use your imagination." NO! It's your story. So YOU tell me. I'm not doing the mental work for you. Though, most of my indignation for this, is mostly reserved for stories that have open-endings. I LOATHE that. Cowboy Bebop, as much as I love it, I still will never rewatch the series because of the ending.

Shinichiro Watanabe then had the nerve to say "its up to viewer, whether Spike survived." I haven't watched a single thing else made by him ever since reading that interview.

I read novels to imagine things though. I don't want the author to explain everything. If it came down to it, I would prefer skeletons. If something is not important, I don't want the author to explain it, I'd rather imagine it. There are multiple schools of thought here, but writing utilizes imagination the most of all the mediums. Even if you used over descriptive language, readers still have to imagine.

 

[Dieter]

Show & tell is what teachers tell their students to get them thinking (not always, as some teachers do think it's just a rule like grammar). But to me the adage is not meant to be an ironclad rule you shouldn't break, or have an explicit definition, but meant to be interpreted however one wishes. I can say I've learned quite a lot from trying to unpack what's meant by 'show and tell'. Years of trail & error and I still can't put it into words.

Just know that there are times where you have to be wordy and descriptive, and times where you have to keep your descriptions brief.

 

[Gray_Mann]

I read novels to imagine things though. I don't want the author to explain everything. If it came down to it, I would prefer skeletons. If something is not important, I don't want the author to explain it, I'd rather imagine it. There are multiple schools of thought here, but writing utilizes imagination the most of all the mediums. Even if you used over descriptive language, readers still have to imagine.

Maybe I'm not explaining myself properly, or it's another one of those issues with text where meaning is not conveyed as it is originally intended.

When a writer tells a reader to "use your imagination," in most cases in my experience, they were covering up a plot hole either after the fact, or something that came up that they missed and just didn't feel like fixing.

Here's a terrible but mostly viable example: Someone is imprisoned for a terrible crime, and they've remained so for quite a while. A major plot point is some mysterious individual letting them go free, they used a key to open the door, and then disappeared before the criminal could see who it was that freed them. Now, this "mysterious individual" is never identified. The author never reveals who it was, and while it's not really terribly important as to who freed the evil guy, it would still be nice to know. Yes, the evil guy now being free is more important than whoever freed him, but that still should be relevant knowledge made known. The individual who freed evil guy is never identified, and when asked, author just says "use your imagination."

Maybe not the best example, but it almost always something like this that causes me to get angry about the "use your imagination" advice.

Also, I mentioned most of my anger for the "use your imagination" advice, is geared for the most part, towards stories that have open-endings. To me it just stinks of laziness where the author didn't know how to end it, or couldn't decide. Case in point, my Cowboy Bebop example and the later interview Shinichiro Watanabe gave about the ending.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Maybe I'm not explaining myself properly, or it's another one of those issues with text where meaning is not conveyed as it is originally intended.

When a writer tells a reader to "use your imagination," in most cases in my experience, they were covering up a plot hole either after the fact, or something that came up that they missed and just didn't feel like fixing.

Here's a terrible but mostly viable example: Someone is imprisoned for a terrible crime, and they've remained so for quite a while. A major plot point is some mysterious individual letting them go free, they used a key to open the door, and then disappeared before the criminal could see who it was that freed them. Now, this "mysterious individual" is never identified. The author never reveals who it was, and while it's not really terribly important as to who freed the evil guy, it would still be nice to know. Yes, the evil guy now being free is more important than whoever freed him, but that still should be relevant knowledge made known. The individual who freed evil guy is never identified, and when asked, author just says "use your imagination."

Maybe not the best example, but it almost always something like this that causes me to get angry about the "use your imagination" advice.

Also, I mentioned most of my anger for the "use your imagination" advice, is geared for the most part, towards stories that have open-endings. To me it just stinks of laziness where the author didn't know how to end it, or couldn't decide. Case in point, my Cowboy Bebop example and the later interview Shinichiro Watanabe gave about the ending.

I see what you mean, so it's less about descriptions and more about imagining the plot

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Here's a terrible but mostly viable example: Someone is imprisoned for a terrible crime, and they've remained so for quite a while. A major plot point is some mysterious individual letting them go free, they used a key to open the door, and then disappeared before the criminal could see who it was that freed them. Now, this "mysterious individual" is never identified. The author never reveals who it was, and while it's not really terribly important as to who freed the evil guy, it would still be nice to know. Yes, the evil guy now being free is more important than whoever freed him, but that still should be relevant knowledge made known. The individual who freed evil guy is never identified, and when asked, author just says "use your imagination."

What about Pulp Fiction's briefcase?

 

[Gray_Mann]

What about Pulp Fiction's briefcase?

It's been so long since I watched that, I'm not sure what the context of the briefcase even is anymore. I watched that nearly a decade ago, and only once. It was a decent movie, but not the best by Tarantino.

I see what you mean, so it's less about descriptions and more about imagining the plot

Yes. I also like descriptions, and I dislike it when these are kept minimal, but for the most part, I've never seen someone wield the "use your imagination" nonsense in response to someone claiming they are being poor with descriptions. In most cases, it was in regards to something left unsaid in the plot.

I'm also very much aware that I am in the minority group, when it comes to enjoying detailed descriptions.