Challenging an old saw: "Show, don't tell"

One of the first rules in fiction writing is "show, dont tell." But all rules are meant to be broken! My recent novel, Jacob's Cellar, takes on this challenge.

My tale is a story of a closely knit community in rural Missouri confronted by the threat of war and soon swept into it. Under those circumstances, people often huddle together and discuss their experiences and reminiscences for many reasons: to understand how they found themselves in their present circumstances, to divert their attention from current worries, to seek some form of amusement, or simply to share companionship. An old cellar is the focus of such discussions in my novel, in which the strengths and weaknesses of my protagonists under the growing threat of disaster are revealed through their telling of, and reaction to, past events and individuals.

Yes, showing can tell a story more effectively than a bland narrative, but the telling of a story can also reveal the teller's hidden motivations and emotions more honestly than his/her overt actions. That is the original path offered by Jacob's Cellar to readers open to a fresh approach to the historical novel.