Tell, Don't Show?

Posted by J. Mark Bertrand
on Thursday, June 07, 2007
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"Finally, the passage contradicts a form of bad advice often given young writers -- namely, that the job of the author is to show, not tell. Needless to say, many great novelists combine 'dramatic' showing with long stretches of the flat-out authorial narration that is, I guess, what is meant by telling, and the warning against telling leads to a confusion that causes novice writers to think that everything should be acted out -- don't tell us a character is happy, show us how she screams 'yay' and jumps up and down for joy -- when in fact the responsibility of showing should be assumed by the energetic and specific use of language. There are many occasions in literature in which telling is far more effective than showing."

FRANCINE PROSE
Reading Like a Writer, p. 24