Telling, not Showing

So I just wrote a critique for someone in which I suggested doing more telling, and less showing. Or at least having a higher ratio of telling rather than showing. I do this every once in a while, and then I laugh, reminded that no advice is really universally good.

Here’s the thing. You’re writing a book, not filming a movie. Writing a book uses words. Filming a movie doesn’t need any words at all. You can show everything. You can’t do that with a book (unless it’s a graphic novel, I suppose, or a wordless picture book). In a book, you use words to do all the things that you use the actor’s face to do in a movie. And in addition to that, you get to do this cool extra thing where you can orchestrate the emotional reaction of your reader. With words.

If you are only giving a play-by-play of the action, you’re missing the real power of a book. A book gets you into the head of your pov character. You’re along for the ride in a way that a movie can’t really allow you to be. You get to know everything your pov knows. You feel everything your pov feels. You become your pov in a way a movie can’t quite manage. Now, movies can do other things that are amazing, but I don’t think they give you the same emotional connection.

Don’t just show me what is happening. Tell me what is happening in the head of the pov you’ve picked for me to ride along with. This is the pov that you’ve chosen for a reason, right? The one who is going to give the reader the most emotional ride? The one they’re never going to forget sharing an adventure with?

Make it hurt. Make it sing. Make it stay.