I think show don’t tell is still a valid guideline, if not taken too far, so the middle ground you’re recommending makes sense. I remember a passage from an extremely popular novel. It was something like: “The guards wore bullet-proof armor, carried automatic rifles, and had extra ammo packs strapped to their bodies. One even sported a r…
I think show don’t tell is still a valid guideline, if not taken too far, so the middle ground you’re recommending makes sense. I remember a passage from an extremely popular novel. It was something like: “The guards wore bullet-proof armor, carried automatic rifles, and had extra ammo packs strapped to their bodies. One even sported a rocket launcher. The message was clear: no entry.” Gee, you really didn’t need to tell me that last bit, when you already showed it. Or how about, “He shrugged, showing his confusion”? The writers of my favorite sci-fi series do that too often, and it’s the one thing about their writing that drives me nuts.
We need to make the reader feel whatever the character is feeling. Rarely will “he felt nervous” or “she was deeply in love” do that. Of course, as you point out, context counts, so if the love or the nervousness isn’t the main experience we want the reader to have, then we can get away with naming those emotions. But if we want the reader to feel it, we need to use different strategies. Some of them might be descriptive and more “telling”: “her love was like an oasis to which she always returned, like a traveler in the desert.” Or we might narrate the feeling of nervousness or being in love in a fresh way. And those different approaches will work for different readers.
I think show don’t tell is still a valid guideline, if not taken too far, so the middle ground you’re recommending makes sense. I remember a passage from an extremely popular novel. It was something like: “The guards wore bullet-proof armor, carried automatic rifles, and had extra ammo packs strapped to their bodies. One even sported a rocket launcher. The message was clear: no entry.” Gee, you really didn’t need to tell me that last bit, when you already showed it. Or how about, “He shrugged, showing his confusion”? The writers of my favorite sci-fi series do that too often, and it’s the one thing about their writing that drives me nuts.
We need to make the reader feel whatever the character is feeling. Rarely will “he felt nervous” or “she was deeply in love” do that. Of course, as you point out, context counts, so if the love or the nervousness isn’t the main experience we want the reader to have, then we can get away with naming those emotions. But if we want the reader to feel it, we need to use different strategies. Some of them might be descriptive and more “telling”: “her love was like an oasis to which she always returned, like a traveler in the desert.” Or we might narrate the feeling of nervousness or being in love in a fresh way. And those different approaches will work for different readers.
On the spot analysis. I agree.