Show, Don’t Tell

What exactly is the difference, anyway?

It’s one of those classic, age old questions that inevitably come up in the journey of a writer. How do I know the difference between showing vs telling? Is it even a difference worth noting? I’ve joined various writing/film related groups over the years, and every once in awhile, the question comes up. “I always get told that I should show, not tell” says the writer bringing up the grievance. “How exactly do I go about doing that?” What usually follows is a series of back and forths on what I’ve concluded are disagreements on what exactly it means to show and not tell. A few people chip in to let the rest know that the whole discussion is usually arbitrary. That it’s nothing more than the established publishing companies’ and/or production companies attempts to hold us to a set of rules that limit our true storytelling capabilities. There’s nothing wrong with telling instead of showing and the difference between the two are minuscule, at best, according to them. Others make it known they’re of the opinion that one must know the rules in order to break them. If you’re told to “show, not tell”, then it’s at least something to take heed to until you’ve got your own method down pat.

My take? The age old adage “show, don’t tell” is a solid one to abide by, but the circumstances under which one takes heed to this depends on the particular story being told. To go even further, I’d argue that the reason why the topic is so confusing is it’s not too often that it’s clearly defined what exactly it means to “show, and not tell” and more specifically, the exact purpose it serves for your writing. Here is my attempt to do just that.

What does it mean to tell?

Now just as with any creative endeavor, there will likely be a bit of nuance in the responses you get from different individuals, but the overarching idea will be that telling entails explaining or summarizing what is taking place rather than describing and detailing what is taking place. This isn’t always a negative thing, as maybe there is information that could be useful to the reader but doesn’t need a ton of elaborating. However, for the most part, telling rather than showing doesn’t do as much to immerse readers in your story.

Take the following for example:

Jane Doe woke up yesterday morning to the sun shining down on her. She was sad and dreaded the day she had ahead of her, but still had to get ready for her day at work as a journalist. She had an important interview, and no amount of pouting was going to change that, so she pulled the blue-tinted covers off of her, got up and collected one of her best outfits. Then, she called up her best friend to set up their next hangout. Once that was done, she took a shower and put her clothes on. As she did so, she made a mental note to call up her father later so they could talk some more about all the drama that went down during the family dinner last week. Once she was geared up and ready to take on the day, she decided she would first take a quick trip to grab her favorite coffee from the shop on the next block, since she had some extra time before she needed to leave.

While this is enough to get the gist of what’s going on, it’s arguable that it does a bit more “telling” than “showing”.

Rather than simply mentioning that Jane Doe is sad, describe what her sadness is like for her. What action does she choose as a result of her sadness? What exactly took place during the conversation with her best friend? Is there anything about their plans that will come up again later in the story? What is the family drama going on? Does it involve Jane’s mother? Those sorts of details help to make your characters more active and they help to further immerse the reader into the story. Instead of simply mentioning that the important interview Jane Doe had scheduled for her brought down her mood, provide some context to the reader for what kind of interview it is and why it’s so important. This would show the reader why the moment may be consequential to the story. That is, if it is in fact consequential to the story. That is also key. Again, you don’t need to go into too much detail about moments that you don’t intend to have really be useful in the story, but then it may be worth assessing whether you need the moment in the story at all. Because this is a bit of a balancing act, it can be frustrating to sort out for many writers. It’s the sort of thing that gets easier to assess as you consume more stories, whether that be in the form of books, films, tv shows, or theater.

Now, what exactly does it mean to show?

As mentioned above, though exact details will vary depending on who you ask, but generally speaking, showing entails using actions, feelings and other such details to help readers experience the moments of a story as they take place.

Let’s take a look at what the scene I laid out earlier would look like if there was more “showing” than “telling”.

Jane Doe woke up yesterday morning to the sun shining down on her. The day she’s been dreaming of for awhile had finally arrived, yet the gravity on her chest felt just a little to heavy, so much so that a sad sigh left her body. She couldn’t bring herself to get excited for the most important interview she’s had in her career as a journalist. She was going to interview the mayor of the city, and try to get some tough questions regarding his corruption allegations answered. As far as she was concerned though, the person whom would’ve been most proud to see it couldn’t do so, so what was the point? After staring at the ceiling for a few seconds, she finally arose, understanding that no amount of pouting was going to change the fact that her mother was gone. The one who’d given up her own dream of journalism to raise Jane. Instead, Jane chose to tell herself that her mother would still be watching over her. She didn’t really know if she believed it, but hoped that at least pretending she did would get her through the day. She mustered up what energy she had, pulled the blue-tinted covers off of herself, got up, and gathered one of her best outfits. Then, as she’d promised she would, she called up her best friend, Janet.

“How’s it going?”

“It’s going.”

Janet could tell that Jane wasn’t entirely in the mood for small talk. Still, she wanted to make sure Jane was aware that she could always count on her.

“Still on for Sunday?”

“Yup”, responded Jane.

“Perfect. Look, I know you haven’t felt like doing much outside of work lately, but I just want to make sure you’re not huddled up by yourself so much.”

“No I get it. You’re just trying to look out for me. It’s just…”

Jane’s voice cracked. Janet immediately swooped in for the save.

“It’s been hard, I know. You’re gonna kill it today, though. You’re gonna have them shaking in their boots with all your hard hitting questions.”

This makes Jane chuckle.

“There we go. That’s more like it. Just remember that. That everything’s gonna go great today, and you’re gonna have a great time at Brunch this Sunday. Not to mention, I have a surprise for you, so I doubt you’re gonna regret it.”

“Thanks.”

Once Jane hung up the phone, she didn’t give herself much time to ponder over what made her choke up just a moment ago. She headed straight for the shower, and got herself dressed. As she did so, she made a mental note to call up her father and make sense of all the drama that took place during last week’s family dinner. Her aunt and uncle were getting a divorce after some years of infidelity and apparently her aunt had “informally barred” her uncle by marriage from attending any future family functions.

Before she knew it, she was all geared up and ready to go, and she had cheered up just enough to take time to go out and grab some of her favorite coffee from the shop down the block before heading off for work.

And just like that, the stakes get raised a bit. In the previous version, you’re told that Jane Doe has an important interview she’s sad about, but because you’re not told why she’s sad and why the interview is important, it may not feel as important to you as the reader. it’s the additional info concerning her mother’s death and how she’s been grieving which raises the stakes for the interview she has coming up. How will the interview go? Will Jane manage to pull through? There are also other questions that may raise in the readers mind about what’s gonna happen later. What’s the surprise Janet has for Jane? How does Jane and her father plan to deal with Jane’s uncle in law being barred from the family gatherings?

The goal is to get readers invested in the consequences of what’s taking place in a given scene, whether that be through providing information that readers would want a follow up on, or having your characters take actions which will have consequences later on. It’s all about cause and effect, and making it a point to “show” rather than “tell allows you as a writer to get readers invested in what’s going to take place as a result of a character’s actions or as a result of the new info we learn.

So there you have it. A little overview on the difference between showing and telling that you can take with you as you start your next novel or script, or as you go in for that additional rewrite. Now, it’s also important to remember not to get so caught up in this concept that you stress yourself out. There are in fact exceptions to every rule, and no one gets it down pat immediately. Practice makes perfect, and as you keep reading and consuming all the forms of storytelling, you’ll begin to catch on to what exactly adds that extra oomph within the stories that show rather than tell.