So, about writing.

Show, Don't Tell

 "I don't want to be told what happens in the story— I want to experience the story."

Now I'm sure that you've heard the line: "Show, don't tell—" uttered in conversation before. And I bet you that you've heard it often enough in the writing community that the phrase has lost all meaning.

Imagine you're watching a movie. But, instead of seeing the actors use the role they're given to expand on the personalities of the cast, they tell you the developments and don't actually show you anything. Even worse, they expect you to roll with it.

Would you be okay with not seeing any of Tony Stark's witty, dry sarcastic humor in the movies and have someone just tell you: "He's sarcastic and let's leave it at that." and be expected to believe that?

Or what about none of Loki's sass and charming cockiness in the way he interacts with others and presents himself? And all you get is a short sentence that glosses it over— would you be okay with that?

Don't get me wrong. "Show, don't tell," is solid advice. But if you aren't aware of what it means, it isn't exactly helpful, now is it? What I'm trying to say is that it works, but it doesn't always work.

After all, some people just don't get it. Perhaps they don't know any better, or maybe the point wasn't elaborated 'cause someone felt like it didn't warrant an explanation.

To make things clear, I'm not putting any of you down for telling and not showing. It's actually one of the most common writing mistakes for newly-starting writers— and I was definitely no exception. I still have drafts of when I was 12 years old that will never see the light of day, all because I just didn't know about it and that's okay too. We've all been there.

I'm writing this in hopes that I can save someone else the heartache of learning such a painful lesson the hard way. And you know what? Sometimes people learn best from pain. I know I did when I discovered that it physically hurt to reread anything I'd produced and I had no idea just how bad it was.

Tangent aside— "Show, Don't Tell" usually means one thing: elaboration.

Many writers are afraid to draw things out and prefer to keep things short. Because the less things you mark down, the less of a chance you'll say something stupid. Not only that, but sometimes a single, well-placed phrase can be extremely impactful. And there is such a thing as too much detail. It doesn't seem like that big of a problem, now does it?

Now this is where the problem lies: character description, depicting emotion, character interaction, prose and phrasing. Arguably all extremely important points in any piece of fiction I find, that end up being told to the reader. What that means, is a little something like this:

「My father is an honest man.」

「Cole was upset.」

「Torval is extremely cool.」

Using simple language isn't inherently bad. In fact, I absolutely adore simple language. But like all things, too much of anything is bad. Leaving too many details out of the picture can cripple a passage before it's even finished.