What is Show Don’t Tell?

Show don’t tell is easily described as a writing technique that allows the reader to experience the story through actions, feelings, thoughts, and dialogue instead of summarization and description.

Ex: Don’t tell me she had been crying, show me that her eyes were puffy and red with streaks running down her cheeks

Difference between Show and Tell

Show

Show is a tool that you use to create feelings and have the reader interpret what is happening in the story instead of you telling them how they should feel. Using great details will allow the reader to create the story in their head as they read and picture everything you had written. By showing the reader what you want them to feel, see and understand, they will be more involved and connected to the story.

Ex: The walls were painted olive green, and the smell of new paint tickled at their noses.

Tell

Tell is something basic and not descriptive. You are taking away the creativity that readers use to picture your story and their ability to connect to the story. This takes away the imagination and the curiosity to draw conclusions from your story that readers might have. By telling, you are disconnecting the readers and not letting them feel like they are living the story you are telling.

Ex: The walls were green, and they could smell the paint.

Why does it matter?

Why would anyone want to produce a boring story? When you write without descriptives or emotions, you are not showing a story; you are telling a story with facts and nothing to hook readers on. Showing allows character development, and as writers, we want the readers to connect with the characters we create. We want to draw their attention because we want the readers to see and feel what the character(s) feel.

Tips

5 Senses:

The readers will connect more if you write your story using the five senses: touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Using these sense help readers imagine the setting and gives them something to interact with visually. Make your reader, and yourself believe the story you are telling is real.

Dialogue:

Readers really get a good sense of who the characters are and their personalities through their dialogue. Dialogue is a great way to show in your story because it is happening at that exact moment in time. 

Verbs:

Strong verbs are great to use for being specific and making what you are saying vivid. During serious scenes where you need to add tension using strong verbs helps. Weak verbs have their place and do ad value, but to create a strong, compelling story, you need to know where to put the strong verbs.

Adverbs:

Try to avoid using adverbs; they pull readers out of the scene. Instead of saying something like: “Josh clicked the controller quickly looking for channel 9,” Use this instead: “Josh clicked the buttons on the controller looking for channel ,nine his finger hurt from rushing.”