As a growing author it’s incredibly important to know when to show and when to tell. I’ve struggled with this longer than I care to admit and there’s no doubt as to why. When I was learning the ropes every direction I turned I kept hearing the advice “Show don’t Tell”. It almost seemed like a motto to which we authors are supposed to live our lives by, shouting it to every new author we meet.
What they didn’t tell me was exactly what showing vs telling is, and more important, like pretty much every other tool we’ll ever come across, there is the time and a place for it.
I don’t go into great depth in this video but I provide a few examples of how to identify showing, how to identify telling, and I discuss the fine line every author has to walk to use both tactfully. The balance of showing vs telling is one which requires enough showing to get the point across but not so much as to bore the reader. The telling bridges the gaps, allowing the showing you’ve done to highlight the world enough to keep the reader on track.
It’s all rather complex but fortunately I also discussed a valuable technique which can help you strengthen both your showing and telling, and how to be better at both. That technique is called the Pyramid of Abstraction.