I used to be frightened to death of telling when I should be showing. But now, writing serials that have to fall within a designated word count as I do, I have to do a fair bit of telling before I run out of words. I usually save my more dramatic moments for the "showing" and "tell" by trickery - conversations are a good way of covering a lot of ground.

It's like all these writing rules, isn't it? Oh, the feeling of relief when you can break them and no one but you and other writers notice. The biggest feeling of liberation I ever got was jumping POV within a paragraph. I toyed with the idea for ages,suspecting some kind of punishment might descend on me from on High. But it had to be done if I wanted to get on with the damn story.

A writing mentor I had (published, fairly well-known) told me not to fear telling - that all stories could do with some telling as well as showing. The important thing is to do it in the right places and the right proportions. And that will vary, of course, depending on what you're writing.

It's like most writing rules - they shouldn't be considered rules, but guidelines, and in this case I think it's more a case of trying to stop people making the common beginners' mistake of telling TOO much rather than to stop people telling at all.

Like when they say that everyone eats too much salt or everyone eats too much fat.

Deb

This is an interesting topic. If you go on line and look for "Tell in writing" - you get millions of hits. Most repeating the same mantra - Show don't tell. I have yet to find anything that talks about using Tell properly.

Ben

Deb's right: all fiction has a rhythm of showing and telling, just as it has a rhythm of action and reflection and of narrative and dialogue. What you need to learn - and eventually develop an instinct for - is not only the difference and how to do each well, but how the two fit together, and how different proportions suit different stories.

And though one of the uses for telling is when you need to cover the ground quickly, showing isn't necessarily wordier. This is a mistake beginners often make: to assume that 'showing' means showing tons of detail. One right verb and one right noun can do it all. In Deb's example

Tell:

Bernard was a very irritable man with a bad limp.

Show, for full dramatic value, if the point is important:

"What the fuck are you doing now?" Bernard shouted, entering the kitchen to find his son standing red-faced over a broken vase. Bernard lurched from side to side as he made his way towards the shattered pieces.

but Show could also be:

Bernard swore, then lurched over the shattered vase to get at his son.

Yes - I much prefer your wording for the Show bit, Emma. Mine was a bit ropey.

Deb

I didn't think it was ropey, just suitable to a different purpose.

Thanks Emma...

Deb