Showing Vs. Telling - When Telling is Okay
One of the primary rules of being a writer is the show vs. tell aspect. It's much better to see a conversation between two people who are flirting than to to tell the reader that the two are flirting. The fist way builds the chemistry, where the second way leaves something to be desired. But showing isn't perfect 100% of the time.
Yup, I said it. Sometimes it's okay to tell. Now before you start booing and throwing tomatoes at me, let me give you a few examples.
1. Flash-Backs
Every once in a while you need a hint into a characters past that will foreshadow upcoming events, but lots of flash backs are a no-no. If you can sum it up in a simple sentence or a line of dialogue, do it! Unless it's for comedic value such as this little gem. (sorry, it wouldn't let me embed it)
2. Re-telling's
Sometimes something important happens and one character needs to tell another character. Please, please, please, don't go and show the story again. A summary is best in this situation. Here's an example of this done well in Rick Riordan's 'The Throne of Fire'
"I gave them the shortest version possible -- why I left London, how the Egyptian Gods had escaped into the world, how I'd discovered my ancestry as a magician. I told them about our fight with Set, the rise of Apophis, and our insane idea to awaken the god Ra."
3. Un-important scenes
It can be easy to get caught up in so much showing that soon you are showing things that are of no consequence. No one needs ten pages on how someone got onto an airplane and found their seat. Unless it furthers the story, telling the reader they got on the plane may be enough.
Are there other times when telling is best?
Yup, I said it. Sometimes it's okay to tell. Now before you start booing and throwing tomatoes at me, let me give you a few examples.
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1. Flash-Backs
Every once in a while you need a hint into a characters past that will foreshadow upcoming events, but lots of flash backs are a no-no. If you can sum it up in a simple sentence or a line of dialogue, do it! Unless it's for comedic value such as this little gem. (sorry, it wouldn't let me embed it)
2. Re-telling's
Sometimes something important happens and one character needs to tell another character. Please, please, please, don't go and show the story again. A summary is best in this situation. Here's an example of this done well in Rick Riordan's 'The Throne of Fire'
"I gave them the shortest version possible -- why I left London, how the Egyptian Gods had escaped into the world, how I'd discovered my ancestry as a magician. I told them about our fight with Set, the rise of Apophis, and our insane idea to awaken the god Ra."
3. Un-important scenes
It can be easy to get caught up in so much showing that soon you are showing things that are of no consequence. No one needs ten pages on how someone got onto an airplane and found their seat. Unless it furthers the story, telling the reader they got on the plane may be enough.
Are there other times when telling is best?
Comments
Oh, you meant in writing...hmm...probably, but nothing comes immediately to mind.
Sometimes telling can be part of the style. I remember once reading 'The Good Soldier' by Ford Madox Ford, and I think he did a lot of telling in that. (A long time ago, so I might be mistaken.)
I think a good story is about finding the balance between the two, and that comes with practice. I hope.
:)
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I think you nailed the telling of unimportant things, too. Showing can bog down a story as much as telling if done too much. It's all about moderation. Finding the right balance.
I agree with your examples. I also like to use telling in dialogue.
I had a big problem with this when I first started. Big problem. My very first chapter, ten pages of "everything my character when through in his life up to this point." I learned a lot about the character for myself, but now, it's a bore. I'll have to stretch out his history with the next revision. :)
I've noticed telling in books where the perspective isn't that of the main character, and the narrator kind of "zooms out" and looks at something else--perhaps to increase tension or add a plot twist. I can't see how you'd be able to do that without telling if there's no character there.
Show vs tell: a delicate balance
But most of the time I think you're right. Flashbacks can be a cop-out way to get info across. I think once you know the rules about flashbacks and why the rules are in place, you can break them for very good reasons. Same goes with all of the "rules of writing."