A Simple Guide to Showing Versus Telling

When perusing book reviews, you may sometimes come across reviewers excoriating an author for doing too much telling and not enough showing in a novel or short story. Aspiring authors are often advised to show, not tell and students may earn a low grade on an essay because they told rather than showed.

Showing and Telling Examples

So what exactly is the difference between showing versus telling? Telling is when an author uses exposition to tell the reader what is happening. Showing is more vivid and descriptive, giving readers a clearer picture of what is going on. What do you picture when you read a sentence like this:

"I want a new bike," Jane said. 

This could be an example of a little girl calmly asking her parents for a new bike. Maybe it's her birthday. We're given so little information, that as readers, we don't know what to picture in our minds. 

"I want a new bike!" Jane screamed. 

Changing said to screamed gives us a better idea of what's happening. We know the girl is angry and demanding. We can infer that she's spoiled, tired, or having a bad day. While we can better picture this scene, we are still being told what happened. We aren't being shown what happened.

Jane glared and stamped her foot. Her voice was a low growl. "I want a new bike!"

Now we can see the girl's angry face and the stamp of her foot. We can hear her growl. We can picture the scene in our minds. These are some possible alternatives.

Jane's eyes narrowed and her lips pressed together. "I want a new bike!"

"I want a new bike!" Jane stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Jane glared and stamped her foot. "I want a new bike!" she screamed.

How to Tell the Difference

If you are a reader who wants to recognize telling rather than showing in writing, or you're an aspiring writer who wants to avoid telling, what should you look for?

Let's say that in a story, the writer tells us that a character named Javier is tall. Now we know Javier is tall because the author told us. But they didn't have to tell us. They could instead have described Javier ducking to get through doors or hitting his head when he walks through a door, lost in thought. We would know Javier is tall without having it spelled out for us. Ask yourself if the author is spelling things out for you instead of helping you visualize what's happening.

Similarly, we would figure out a character is short if they struggle to reach items on a shelf that others can easily reach. We would learn a character is tired by their puffy eyes, yawning, and stretching. We could infer a character is a plumber based on descriptions of their coveralls, tools they carry, and tasks they are engaged in. Instead of being told a character is too nervous to eat, we could determine that fact for ourselves if they are picking at their food. These are some specifics to look for:

• Weak and nondescriptive verbs - an author uses simple verbs like said, walked, and ran instead of more descriptive verbs like moaned, ambled, and galloped
• A lack of specific nouns and adjectives - telling the reader that Dad bought a new car instead of Dad bought a shiny red car that purred as he pulled into the driveway
• Avoiding sensory detail - good writing should engage as many senses as possible. A reader should be able to see, hear, feel, smell, and taste what is going on

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