Questions tagged [showing-telling]
This tag should be used for questions about the [technique] of "Show, don't tell!" The goal of this technique is to allow the reader to experience the story through senses and feelings instead of only listening to the author explaining something.
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How do I maintain interesting prose outside of the introduction/hook when I start getting into my anecdotes?
This is a personal narrative where I want to narrate my creative side. I start off strong with figurative language, descriptions, and metaphors. But as I get into my anecdote and what I learned from ...
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Is it better to slowly introduce a character's looks rather than describing it all in one paragraph?
I've been rewriting a book, and I've realised how blocky and kind of boring my character descriptions were in my first version of the book, and I thought that maybe instead of writing a character that ...
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Is it a form of "tell and not show" when characters talk to themselves?
Is it a form of "tell and not show" when characters talk to themselves? I wonder if it's a bad thing. I've always seen cartoon characters do that, and I thought it was pretty unrealistic ...
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How do you prevent yourself from neglecting scientific accuracy in a sci-fi-fantasy story without telling?
In a sci-fi setting, I was told it was important to follow scientific principles to some extent. Neglecting these principles can create confusion and disbelief among readers or viewers.
For example, ...
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Is there a way to do unreliable narration in comics book without the narrator speech bubble?
Comics are the easiest medium to accomplish this in, since you can
have the narration saying one thing above the panel and the panel show
what's really happening, whereas in Film, Western Animation, ...
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When your main character is a misogynist or a racist, how do you tell your readers that you don't subscribe to his racist views by merely showing?
When your main character is a misogynist or a racist, how do you tell your readers that you don't subscribe to his racist views by merely showing? The only way to kinda do this in my opinion is to ...
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When is exposition required and how do we keep it as short as possible?
I thought that a mission briefing, match briefing (sports,) made perfect sense, but I think exposition like that is terrible.
In my story, there's a soldier who uses a special weapon purposed for a ...
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How do you write a character with multiple personalities?
I have a character with multiple personalities, but the character is mute and cannot speak. He can only behave. Is there a way to show that this character has multiple personalities and is behaving ...
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Is the occasional practical exposition jarring?
I always try to keep exposition to a minimum; whenever there is any backstory or worldbuilding, I let it come out via dialogue. The narration is impersonal; I don't want it to feel like someone's ...
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I'm so angry! How can I show that in an interesting way?
This is in a sense a part two to my question on English Stack Exchange about replacement for word "bullshit", which I decided would better fit on this site.
A bit of background
Optional ...
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Is the story deeper if the characters are not aware of the symbolism?
https://youtu.be/f2QWxqNOtJg?t=218
In Game of Thrones 2, the king is made aware of the white stag, which is a symbol, and I was wondering if this kind of symbolism is there to have a completely ...
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How to describe someone whose eyes sparkle mischievously?
I've been told that I'm telling instead of showing when I say my characters' eyes sparkle 'mischievously.' How do you describe something like that? I've been looking it up and trying different tricks ...
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Is this telling and not showing, and why is it ok in here?
In Stone Ocean, the antagonist explains his power at the end of the series. I am wondering if this is telling and not showing and if there are situation where telling and showing is completely ok and ...
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Guy's POV when falling in love. Too much, not enough?
Half of my story is told from (1st person) male POV and he falls in love with the leader of a rebellion he's meant to be undercover investigating and trying to stop. He slowly comes round to join the ...
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Show don't tell in the paragraph
How do I make this paragraph from telling to show?
How could I describe a memory of him trying to make a friend even though he is disliked by others on his planet?
Here is the paragraph for these two ...
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Showing and not telling in comics and visual media
Is there such a thing in showing and not telling when writing the script for a movie or a comic books? It seems that in movie scripts you need to actually do the opposite by telling and not showing in ...
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How do you show, not tell when a person poisons someone?
How do you show, not tell when a person poisons someone? Instead of saying, "Robert put poison in his drink", what do you do to show that Robert did it? Do you just heavily suggest it was ...
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Ways to show someone is whispering without using "he whispered"
I've seen a lot of advice that says you should scrap all non-'said' dialogue tags. I can see the value of this, but I'm not sure how to make it work in every instance.
It's pretty easy to show things ...
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How can I show characters dealing with rejection?
From my own experience reaction to rejection is very internal. I'm having troubles with coming up with actions that rejected people do, that would be perfect description for what they feel. It would ...
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How do you show and not tell an action such as "installed a virus"?
How do you show and not tell an action such as "installed a virus"? I am wondering if saying "installed a virus on his machine" is a description rather than an action. If so, is ...
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How to "show not tell" hero's thought process?
This question is inspired by a different one - How to communicate characters' inner states?. Although it may seem similar at first glance, I find the difference quite profound. My question regards ...
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How to communicate characters' inner states?
This is a huge question, parts of which have been answered on this site. However, this is one of the biggest challenges writers face, and so I think the question's relevancy matches the amount of work ...
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How can I keep a spy character portrayed as competent and yet have interactions between protagonist and antagonist?
I have a character that is a spy, and part of their job is sneaking around and getting into places without being noticed. However, in order to have conflict in the plot, have characters interacting to ...
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How do I show that my character is intelligent?
I have a fantasy story in which the lead character is designed as your typical bland everyman protagonist whose purpose is to give the reader someone to relate to and ask questions about the ...
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How to write a scene about a main character who is crying?
I am writing a scene in which I want to show how my MC is still weak and vulnerable. My character is emotionally strong, but I am not able to describe a scene where she is crying in a room alone, so ...
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Does descriptive language in written fiction work as well as physical characterization in visual media?
Character design in visually oriented works (comic books, film, television) is often a useful shorthand for making characters stand out and be memorable in terms of their appearance. For example, ...
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How do I provide exposition on a magic system when no character has an objective or complete understanding of it?
I'm writing an urban fantasy series in which like many urban fantasy series there is a magic-and-powers system hidden from the broader world that the supernatural phenomena of the series run on. ...
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How to stop writing from deteriorating mid-writing?
I'm not really sure how to describe this, but whenever I write I tend to start off okay-ish but as I progress it all just falls downhill. I think it's because I get too ahead of myself with my ideas ...
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How do I show a character is involved in Internet subculture without making them seem dated?
I have a character who one of their primary character quirks is supposed to be that they are very involved in Internet subculture. They're a programmer who spends a lot of their spare time on certain ...
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How can I show that a character does something without thinking?
When a character does something suddenly, how can I show this instead of just telling the reader they did it "without thinking"?
Like: "Without thinking, I jumped."
Or: “Without ...
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How can I show a character looking around without just saying "I looked around"?
I'm looking for another way to say, “I looked around, until my eyes landed on a man.” I’m sick of the sentence “I looked around”, but it’s important that she does since she wakes up in an unfamiliar ...
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Show vs Tell: Complex and nuanced emotions
The one writing guideline that has altered my writing the most is the Show vs Tell guideline. I was probably far into the "tell" territory before, but sometimes I feel like this guideline is ...
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Am I telling or showing?
I'm having some trouble with "Show, don't tell" when come to writing, so I'd like some advice.
I'm trying to highlight the relationship and personality between these characters, but I'm ...
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Would incorporating a constructed language into my story this way cause confusion later?
This is part of the story I'm working on:
“Imikagaw” a feminine voice called out as she put her hand on the back of the man in cape. “Usamiakusta ow ihsataw aw amas Enna “Uoyustih ag imikagaw aw nah ...
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How can I show a character's emotions through a phone call?
When writing face-to-face dialogue, I like to give clues as to what the non-POV character is thinking and feeling through their actions. Not all the time, but whenever it feels appropriate. They might ...
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How to "show" a "Yes" head confirmation
How can I "show" that my character is saying "yes" as a respond from a question?
The only thing that comes to my mind is
Mike moves his head, confirming that he is okay.
I think this is not good ...
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I abstain from using concise words in my writing, so as to "show" instead of "tell". Is this bad writing?
Instead of explaining this whole practice, I'll rather give an example. In a scene in my book, there is this character. This character is pompous and arrogant. I describe their gait shortly after ...
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Recounting events in dialogue
In my story, the MC goes through a number of events with a common theme, each told in separate scenes. At the end of the story, he tells a friend about the things he experienced. Both the events and ...
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How do I show and not tell a backstory? [duplicate]
In my novel, Matt's girlfriend Ella gets kidnapped and Matt is held responsible by the kidnappers. As it wasn't for ransom but as a revenge of something Matt did. And then Matt storms into my MC's ...
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Is straight-up writing someone's opinions telling?
When I first learned about the "show don't tell" guideline, I believe it applied to everything. I have now learned there are many grey areas, like for example exposition, and that the most important ...
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How to help the reader wrestle through historical atrocities which would be considered normal to the POV character
I'm writing historical fiction which is set in ancient China. My MC is a historical figure who really did go into battle as a woman.
Women in the ancient world were abused and mistreated. Males ...
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How do I write "Show, Don't Tell" as a person with Asperger Syndrome?
I have been told by my friends that my writing seems a bit blunt in the sense of I rarely practice "Show, Don't Tell" (SDT) in my stories. However, I personally find SDT hard because...I just don't ...
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Should I "tell" my exposition or give it through dialogue?
When my work was being critiqued, one of the critics said that the exposition given away in my dialogue was forced and unnatural. Though, this exposition is crucial, so leaving it out is out of the ...
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What effects do the different types of flashbacks produce?
Different types of "Flashbacks"
In this question, the OP asks what the different types of flashbacks are, which of them is used the most and which is the most effective. He doesn't really ...
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How can I emphasize the horror of a ritual without getting too overly graphic?
A person is born with a certain amount of mana, which increases with age and peaks at a certain point. Individuals are born with all the mana they will ever have, but it can be refined with practice ...
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Delivering sarcasm
Most of us who have spent more than a few days reading things and interacting with people on the internet know how difficult it is to convey sarcasm. There is no tone there is only the words on our ...
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Making him into a bully (how to show mild violence)
Joe is the worst. Nobody likes him, not even the so-called friends he teams up with at school, filling other students with terror. He's sarcastic, nasty, and a bit of a racist, and especially anti-...
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How to make clear what a part-humanoid character looks like when they're quite common in their world?
How can I describe an unconventionally part-humanoid character, so the reader knows clearly what they look like, while in a world where these people are normal and it's not unusual at all for ...
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How do you describe sentimental human physical interactions?
For example, Amanda just lost a battle in her life. When she met her best friend and mother, she lost it and started crying. The other characters comforted her with a hug, some talks, and some pats on ...
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How to show the same emotion multiple times?
I think everyone has heard the "show don't tell" rule. My question is how can I show same emotion multiple times without the description being the same. For example if my character is scared I can ...
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