It's a mantra for some, a guide for others - the idea that an writer should allow the reader to experience the story through the development of a character's thoughts, feelings, and senses rather than the author's own exposition or description.
When I first started writing in earnest, I remember obsessing over every scene, wondering if I was showing enough or telling too much. It slowed me down immensely and led to endless bouts of frustration. When is it enough? When is it too much?
Telling can often seem like a lazy form of writing. It's would be very easy for me to tell you, for instance, that Billy was anxious - but it would take much more effort for me to show you through Billy's own thoughts, his upset stomach, the fact that his grip was much tighter than necessary on the steering wheel of his car. Even those small windows into the character's emotional state of being allow the reader greater access to the story at hand. We all know what a nervous stomach feels like - the better to relate to what Billy is feeling. And when we can relate to the characters, we find ourselves caring about them.
On the other hand, it would be impossible to always show what a character is experiencing - books would be very long and overly drawn out if everyone followed the show, don't tell rule to the tee.
James Scott Bell said, "Sometimes a writer tells as a shortcut, to move quickly to the meaty part of the story or scene. Showing is essentially about making scenes vivid. If you try to do it constantly, the parts that are supposed to stand out won't, and your readers will get exhausted."
In other words, there is a time and place for everything including showing and telling. In my experience, it just takes intuition and practice - and possibly a couple of incredibly perceptive test readers to offer valuable feedback.
I recently found a wonderful resource that offers incredible examples of the physical, internal and mental manifestations of dozens of character emotions. It's called, quite simply, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression, by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, authors of one of my favorite blogs, The Bookshelf Muse. It has been an invaluable tool to me in the endeavor of my newest novel and I highly recommend it to any and all writers.
You can find it on Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com and it's available in print or e-book form.
Happy Writing.
