Showing and Telling - Melissa Cavinder and Harry English

Showing and telling are two different techniques used within literature for the author to tell their story.  While it is often said that you should ‘show not tell’ there is no definitive method the author should use. Think back to when you were in school, your science teacher would explain to you how to set up and carry out your experiment, some people may have been able to follow instructions and carry out the experiment straight away. But you may not have understood, however as soon as they set up the experiment you were able to replicate what you were shown. People learn in different ways, whether it’s through auditory, visual or kinaesthetic, there is no wrong way to learn, much like showing and telling there is no wrong way write. Unlike the different learning styles though, it doesn’t just concern the individual, the author has to bare in mind the reader and the advantages and disadvantages of showing and telling.  

Showing is primarily used as a means to involve the reader in the story- as if they were actually there. Showing intends to demonstrate to the reader what is happening in the story as opposed to informing the reader what happened, for example when trying to establish setting the author may write ‘Harry’s breathe became visible as he was met by the roar bitter winds’ instead of ‘It was cold when Harry stepped outside’. Through the use of the senses such as sight and hearing the reader knows that it was cold outside, instead of just being told it was cold outside, this allows the reader to envision themselves in the world created by the author. While showing is more dramatic and illustrative, it also takes more words to describe simple events, so authors that show may lack brevity and could also risk of rambling on- causing disinterest in the reader.   

Telling takes on a very different role in storytelling. Showing uses lengthy description, whereas telling gives us the facts but doesn’t expand on it. For example, whilst showing would explain how someone is beautiful and what formed this opinion, giving us detail on their personality or outward appearance, telling would simply just say that they’re beautiful in it’s basic form. Another example would be showing the reader that the beach takes the characters breath away by giving a description of the smell and surroundings, but telling would state that it took the characters breath away but wouldn’t show it in a way that subsequently takes the readers breath away. It’s the fact that telling doesn’t connect the readers senses to the story that makes it a complete opposite to showing. Whilst most would say that showing, not telling, is the better of the two, it’s necessary in some written work to use telling. For example, if showing says how a character feels about a sunset and it’s impact, you need telling to say what the characters doing, why they’re looking at the sunset and if it’s reminding them of a previous experience. In some forms of writing, telling us is more important, one of those being scripts. Scripts are written simplistically, and need very basic language and technique as most of it will be performed. In a poem however, telling wouldn’t be used at all, as it’s all about the emotions and the senses being provoked.

Examples (link here)

Telling/informing: They stood close and wrapped their arms round each other in a passionate embrace, so that she became aware that he had been riding, and then that he was as nervous as she was.

Showing/evoking: They gripped each other and the tweed of his jacket was rough under her cheek. His hand came up to stroke her hair; she smelled leather and horses on the skin of his wrist. He was trembling.

Both showing and telling are important in their separate ways. In most cases, it’s necessary to use both to give the reader all they need for it to be a success. You can’t have a piece that gives us extravagant and beautiful description without telling us the facts surrounding it. Although most people say to show, don’t tell, it’s best to use a combination to get a well rounded piece of writing.