What it says on the tin.
Some ranting, some advice, some archaic reference, and a lot of cussing. My take on how I think fanfiction should be written and some of the biggest problems with it right now. Because I may not be the best at writing, but...
If that song weren't such a meme, that'd make a great fanfic title. But as usual, I digress before I've even begun.
"Show don't tell" is one of the biggest things that you hear in the writing community. It's the golden rule, it must always be followed, it's super important to writing gud.
Y'all have no idea what the fuck it means.
When I see 'show don't tell' brought up, it's never about the right sort of thing that the rule is supposed to address. And if it is, it's... only a tiny fraction of what show don't tell actually means.
Most commonly, people shouting show don't tell, mean it in the sense that you should SHOW the audience that your OC is badass, rather than constantly telling them or something along those lines. Basically, applying the rule to mean that anything your OC states about themselves must be backed up by the things they do, and they shouldn't even have to say it at all.
It's not that simple.
First of all, obviously it's true that if you keep telling your audience something about your character, you should probably show it as well. If you tell on and on about how the OC is super powerful, but they only really have one fight scene in the story and they do jack all, then that information is worthless and you wasted our time. Anything stated about your character should have relevancy to the plot, I'm definitely not saying otherwise.
However. That's not the meaning of "show don't tell". Show don't tell is a lot more technical, and you can not do the above, and still have problems of telling instead of showing.
Here's an example of telling:
"You're such a piece of shit!" Dickface shouted angrily. He was so pissed off he could've killed her. He felt furious.
Here's an example of showing:
"You're such a piece of shit!" Dickface's throat was hoarse from how loud he was shouting. His fingernails dug blood into his palm from how tightly they were clenched so his hands wouldn't end up around her neck.
The same dialogue, the same scene. From reading both of those, I know Dickface is furious, and I know he's holding back his own violence. But one of those examples told me he was angry flat out. It used those words, it was plain and direct. The other one showed me his anger, painting a picture of it.
So why is showing so much fucking better?
Basically, with the second example, I now have a mental image. I know what Dickface's anger looks like, and that tells me a lot about his character. I can see him screaming, I can feel the pain from his nails biting into his skin because it was described to me, rather than just flatly saying 'oh hey, btw homeboy is a lil pissed'.
Words like 'feel/felt' and almost any unnecessary adverb is usually a hallmark that says your telling instead of showing. Of course, there's a time and place for flat out saying a character is feeling a certain way, especially if it's more complicated and they're not showing it explicitly. That said, you should almost always show instead of telling if given the choice.
The typical 'saying OC is badass and not showing it' still does count as a type of show don't tell, but it's rarely the actual problem with that rule. and furthermore, it can actually be an interesting story if your OC thinks of themself in a certain way that contradicts the story.
For example, an OC who thinks they're super powerful, but they get knocked out easily in any fight they enter. That sounds like a bad thing, but if you do it right, you could be writing an overconfident and egotistical character who needs to grow emotionally and be knocked down a few pegs so they can grow and mature. That's an interesting story. And if your writing from that character's POV, of course, they're always going to call them self a badass, regardless of their actual performance. And writing such a character/story has nothing to do with showing or telling, just an unreliable narrator.
Basically, for the first time in this whole book, I'm gonna tell you to overthink it. Overthink the hell out of "show don't tell". Because it's a mess.
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