Show don't tell
Mon, 2005-05-16 10:54
#1
Anonymous
Show don't tell
I know that 'showing' is better than 'telling', but are you allowed to 'tell' a little bit? Surely a novel cannot be 100% 'show'? You must be allowed the occasional 'tell', especially in the opening chapter where you have to sell the story to a sceptical reader, and may only have a few pages/paragraphs to do that.
archergirl
I suppose it would depend on what 'voice' you are using. Some voices are better at telling; if the piece is pictographic in nature, showing would obviously be better, but some more cerebral works do well with just telling..
I guess. *shrugs*
fish
i think you need a good balance between scene (show) and summary (tell) ... otherwise a novel might take place in real time ... heaven forfend ...
in the opening chapter i think show is more important than anything ... you have to get your reader by the goolies and twist ... the rest can come in later but if you put off with loads of summary and back story straight off you will lose your readers immediately ...
Dan
like all the most important rules, it should be understood, mastered, and then freely ignored
david floyd
Agree with Dan but with the additional point that you can probably do a fair amount of both as long as you and your readers are clear about what you're doing and way.
There's at least one Christopher Brookmyre novel where he interrupts what is essentially a detective story to indulge in a 20 page rant on his opinions on the current state of Scottish politics, then carries on with the story.
The rant does have some relevance to later events in the book but he's certainly telling rather than showing in that section.