Show, Don't Tell

When you're writing, it's important to show, not tell.  It's one of the first things you learn as a writer, and it's also one of the hardest.

"Show, don't tell" is a writing principle that states that the reader should be able to see the story happening in their mind's eye. They shouldn't have to rely on being told what is happening. By showing your readers what is happening—instead of telling them—you can help them picture the story and feel more engaged with your writing.

It's easy to tell your reader that your protagonist is scared. You can tell them how they're sweating, their heart is racing, their hands are shaking. But what if you want to make the reader feel the same way? That's when you need to show them—instead of telling them—what your character is experiencing.

Telling is good.  It's an important tool for writers to have in their toolkit. But there are times when it's better to show instead of tell.

When you're writing, showing your readers what's happening on the page can be one of the most effective ways to help them understand a character or situation. When you're telling them about it instead, you're leaving out some crucial information that could make all the difference in how they interpret what's going on.

How can you do this? Well, let's say our protagonist is scared because she thinks there's someone in her house. What if we write: "She could hear footsteps coming down the hall toward her room." What does this tell us about her fear? "She felt like she couldn't breathe." It tells us that she feels like she can't breathe, but it doesn't actually convey what it feels like for her to have trouble breathing when she's scared.

So what should we do instead? We could write: "She could hear footsteps coming down the hall toward her room, she felt like something was inside of her chest, pressing against it with an iron fist." Here we've done two things: we've given some concrete actions (hearing footsteps), and we've illustrated how those actions make our character feel. Now we have something that really conveys what the character is feeling.

Here are some other examples of telling:

"She was nervous."

“She was very scared”

"He was very angry."

These sentences are both telling because they don't actually show us anything about the character—they just state a fact about them without giving us any details or imagery that would help us understand them better and make them more real for us as readers. How do we know she's nervous? What does she look like? How does her body language change as she gets more nervous? What does she do with her hands? These things would help us understand her more deeply as a character if they were included in the description.

But let's say we added some description:

“She chewed her lip as she waited for her name to be called, and her heart beat faster than normal”

"She felt small and vulnerable as she huddled on the cold concrete floor of the warehouse."

"His face flushed red with rage and he clenched his fists so tightly, his knuckles turned white.”

So why is this important? Why do we need to write in such detail?

Well, it's because reading is an active process! When we read something like "she was nervous," we put our minds into neutral—we're just taking in information without putting any effort into imagining what it would look like or feel like for ourselves. If we wrote about what she actually does when she's nervous (chewing her lip and feeling her heart beat faster), then we'd be more engaged in the story because we'd have a vision of what's happening in our mind's eye.

The point is, you don't have to say anything at all—just show us what someone looks like when they're mad or upset or whatever, and we'll understand exactly how they feel by looking at them. Don't just tell me what happens—show me!