When to Show and When to Tell? This Makes Writing Easier!

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

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[@twilightguardian]

Finally someone is talking about when and when not to use it. This has been a source of frustration for me for years.

[@justNGC604]

Your examples perfectly demonstrate how blurry the lines actually are between showing and telling.

[@GribbleGrunger]

For me, you show when it's important and tell when it's necessary. I'd also suggest that there a middle ground, a kind of show that fits in well with segments of telling. If what is written conveys but doesn't directly tell the reader, then I'd call that showing, even if it feels like telling. I could write 'Simone wept' for instance. That may well be telling the reader she wept but it's indirectly conveying sadness, which is showing. All too often the extremes are expressed to better show the difference. Taking what I've said above and differentiating between the two: 'Simone was unhappy' (telling) or 'A tear ran down Simone's cheek' (showing). Middle ground 'Simone wept' (conveying sadness without directly stating it)

[@jessicahawkins5555]

oh wow i love this and the example was very helpful!

[@AngelCaroline9]

Amazing!

[@GribbleGrunger]

@@AngelCaroline9 It's something I'm working on at the moment. If you can master that 'middle ground' you can slip into and out of 'showing' and 'telling' smoothly, without it looking like a sudden info dump. Note that I have no interest in writing literature, but I do like the techniques used in literature: On occasion, a gust would flutter apart her white-cotton dressing gown. She met those moments with quiet rebellion, dared disapproving eyes. Those 7 o’clock workers 30 floors below didn’t look up-they never did-their eyes mid-focused and downcast. They shuffled across the vast quadrangle in muted union; myriad streams that trickled from foyers and converged into a river, headed for the train station on the far side, content, it seemed, with their humdrum lives, never once breaking protocol. Nothing official had ever been ordered from up high. These sorry souls had merely yielded to the arrows, signs and symmetry of the steel and glass city.

[@ilonabieszke6720]

concise, on point, informative, and painlessly quick as usual - thank you, you're a blessing and a relief to watch in the youtube ocean of mid- and slow-pacers😁

[@Kendojin]

What I love about writing is it's full of nuance. The words chosen have different textures than other words not chosen. Every person who can read/write is a writer, but no two people have the same style or preferences. What I love about your channel, KW, is that your advice is also as nuanced as the craft, and your suggestions leave room for style and preference. This is the kind of advice that builds self-confidence, and I thank you for it! 😊

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

Absolutely, I could agree more. Reading work from a lot of different new writers has really opened my eyes in the past few months. There are so many little stylistic flairs and idiosyncrasies, it’s really fun to discover them ☺️

[@jeffj4440]

Excellent video. Great teaching.

[@JoeyPaulOnline]

I love that you talked about how telling works too. Not all the time no but it very much does have its place!

[@ausramarcinkeviciute4305]

This has probably been the single most useful writing video I've ever seen. More than earned the sub, mate

[@s33wagz]

New to writing. Came across your channel a couple weeks ago and subbed a couple days ago. Initially, the visual and audio quality of your video peaked my interest. Your content and pacing sustained my interest. You have a consistent style and I very much appreciate it. I've gone from a paragraph to now several more and each entry came shortly after watching one of your videos.

[@durandaldevil]

I’m finishing my first novel right now and it definitely helps!

[@alyssapowelltate4000]

Showing being indirect is a useful paradigm

[@RidetoEnglishwithDM]

Thank you for this video, Kieren! Great explanation and examples :)

[@bradkrupsaw]

Your videos have helped me improve my writing. Thank you for your work!

[@sarahsander785]

"Ever since that accident, his greatest fear was the sea. And yet he stood there at the harbour, glancing at his friend's yacht. Why did he aggree to that trip? We couldn't he tell her about his past?" I think the biggest thing it comes down to is emotional impact and that "magnifying glass" you mentioned. Also never forget that this advice comes from the movies, not books! And it differentiates between moments the viewer has to see ("Show") to understand and be impacted vs. moments where you can just state something ("Tell") to save production money. For what it's worth I'm convinced that the concept just doesn't translate well into a book. It's far more about focus and mislead and indulgence and pace.

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

That would explain why it's pretty imperfect advice I guess! Interesting to know that's where it has its origins, I didn't know that! Thank you.

[@ADSmallAuthor]

Great video very informative.

[@9thteardropgameteller601]

Moral of the story: You cant slap someone slowly. cHaLAngE exCePTed!! Best vid on this topic out there. Thanks

[@ZS-dr7bi]

I became a subscriber like a month ago, and already I have seen a difference in my writing thanks to all your advice. Thanks for making it easy to learn.

[@chelseyummali]

I will look at your channel now, but I'd love a video (if you don't have it yet) on how to use multiple pov. I wanted to use 1st person but I'm also concerned with information being left out or the audience to miss something and considered using 3rd close on some chapters. I'd love thoughts...

[@KierenWestwoodWriting]

I do have a video on perspectives but it’s not very detailed. I’ll try and do a better one soon.

[@thelvey1]

When it comes right down to it, every word in a novel is telling!

[@niraakara]

New sub. here… Love the clarity and decisiveness in your videos! What about in a memoir or a non-fiction (eg. travel etc.)? Can leading with a lot of “showing” (eg. contrasts etc) interspersed with sharing moments a few ruminations/insights epiphany or such (on experiences and life itself) deepen it from what could otherwise get to be a series of vignettes, even if they were contrasting ones that were “shown”? Adding one’s own voice to it or rather engaging in a dialog of sorts with the reader?

[@Drudenfusz]

I would say many of the cases you are saying are showing are telling instead. All the cases when the character wonders, knows, or does something ele in their head, those are for me all telling and not showing things.

[@1sihingable]

I Luke your work, bro! Just sayin'.

[@kb2vca]

A really good video but without in any way disagreeing with the ideas you presented let me offer a couple of points. If writing is about immersing the reader, then showing allows readers to stand alongside the characters and see the world much as they do. Showing is a focus on the senses and so allows us to feel (literally) what characters feel, smell what they smell, see what they see, hear what the hear and taste what they taste. In fact, what writers are doing when they show is inviting the reader to collaborate in the story. As you suggest, the writer is not doing all the work. Half the work is being done by the reader as they remember the taste of that ice-cream, of that orange, the feeling of being a passenger when the airliner takes off and slowly rises. The difference between showing and telling is that telling is what a reporter does. There is no expectation that reporters struggle to get inside the heads of those about whom they write. They write about facts and events. And that is fine. We want writers of fiction (perhaps creative non-fiction, also) to do, is to get inside the heads of those about whom they write. We want to see the events , the facts as THEY see them, not as the writer as reporter, sees them. That said, I think there are exceptions. For example, the playwright Bertolt Brecht would argue that the carthasis (Aristotle) we get as we stand alongside the protagonist as they undertake and complete their journey, can be very quietist and reactionary. If writing is to make us angry and want to take to the streets to demand change, it is reportage and not immersion that is needed. So, to add to your point, telling may not be only a device that is used for shock and awe or clarity within a tale, but it may be THE stylistic device to be applied when a writer wants readers to put the book down, leave their homes and shout No! Enough, already!