Showing Not Telling

Welcome to the Write for a Reason podcast. My name is Janet Wilson; I'm a publisher of Christian fiction for young people with Dernier Publishing. If you are a Christian, and new to writing stories for kids and teens, stay tuned for encouragement, creative writing tips and actionable strategies you can implement immediately to become a better writer. Thanks for coming over, now let’s jump straight in to today’s writing tip, which is all about Showing, not telling.

Some unsolicited manuscripts I receive have one major flaw; the lack of "showing" and lots of "telling".

It's a shame, because stories where readers are simply told what is happening can make for slow and dull reading, even when there's an interesting plot and some great characters.

So what is this showing and telling?

“Showing” is more than a simple “telling” of the facts. It's more illustrative and dramatic, and builds a picture in your readers' minds, drawing them into the story and taking them closer to the action. As Anton Chekov famously wrote, “Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

Here are a few more simple examples of show not tell:

Tell: It got dark.
Show: What was left of the coloured clouds sailed away with the last blush of the sun and the cold sky filled with stars. (From London's Gone.)

Tell: It was an incredible view.

Show: The beauty of it delighted me, as the hugeness and loneliness of it terrified me. (From Deepest Darkness by Denise Hayward.)

Tell: He sounded cross, though they couldn't hear what he said.

Show: He growled something they couldn't hear, then snapped his phone shut with a harsh click. (Extract from The Treasure Hunt.)

In the first instances we are told the facts; in the second we are given a dramatic picture. In the last instance, the word "angry" isn't mentioned at all; we have been shown that the man is cross instead.

See what a powerful tool this is in fiction writing; to show, not tell!

Now it's over to you - why not look through your own story and see where you can change some telling into showing? If you're still not sure, I'd be delighted to welcome you on the Write for a Reason course (lots more info on the write for a reason website), where we go into how to show not tell in much more detail.

I hope you found this helpful! If you did, please share with your writer friends and hop on over to write-for-a-reason.com, where you will find lots more resources and encouragement to help you write excellent, relevant, fun novels and get them into your readers’ hands. 

If you haven’t yet done my free course, Gripping Beginnings, you can sign up and start immediately. This will help you grip your readers from the very first page of your story – because if you don’t, they might not keep reading!

Don't put it off – today is a gift to use wisely! Only you can write your book, and if you have been called to write, someone's waiting for it.