 If you’ve ever taken a writing class, cracked open a craft book, or suffered through a beta reader or even agent or editor’s Track Changes comments, you’ve probably heard creative writing’s very own golden rule: “Show, don’t tell.” You’ve also probably wanted to throw something. But we’ll get to that. Let me say it plainly: “Show, don’t tell” is one of the most overused, under-explained, and flat-out wrong pieces of writing advice out there. And I’ve been teaching writers the craft at conferences, in blog posts, and as a literary-agent-turned-freelance-editor for over fifteen years. Not because it’s bad advice in theory—but because it’s misunderstood to the point of self-sabotage.  Writers are told to "show" their way through everything—emotion, character traits, backstory, world-building, tension, secondary characters vibes, the fallout of a fight, the significance of a moment, etc. etc. etc. And if you can’t show it? Well-meaning writing teachers would have you think that you must not understand your story well enough, leaving you to cry into your coffee and try harder. But here’s the truth: There are data points and story elements in any narrative that need to be told. That benefit from being told. That get clearer, sharper, tighter, more emotionally resonant when you tell them. Showing is cinematic. It unfolds in real time. It’s visceral and sensory and immersive. But it’s also slow. It requires setup and staging. You need a character to do something, another character to react, and the reader to interpret what it all means. It’s powerful—but expensive in terms of energy and word count. Telling is declarative. Efficient. Intimate. It’s your character drawing a line in the sand or revealing what they believe. It compresses. It contextualizes. It can feel more like prose and less like film. And when done well, it creates an unmistakable voice.  And here’s where it gets really spicy:
So what are we doing when we tell writers “don’t you dare tell”? We’re asking them to scrub voice from the page. To hide meaning under layers of implication and pantomime. To smother clarity in the name of craft dogma. And we wonder why so many pages fall flat. Let me show you a few things telling can do beautifully:
If you’re still clinging to “show, don’t tell” like it’s a commandment, I’ll leave you with this: Every story you love tells. Every author you admire tells. Every bestseller on your shelf has paragraphs of telling. The trick isn’t to avoid it. The trick is to do it well. That’s why I wrote Show and Tell: Going Beyond Creative Writing’s Most Enduring Paradigm, a craft guide that reclaims telling as an essential, elegant tool in the writer’s arsenal. I break down exactly what telling is (spoiler: it’s not always exposition), when to use it, and how to balance it with showing at the scene level. We talk secondary characters. Backstory. World-building. Emotional beats. And how telling can elevate all of them without flattening your prose. Because the answer isn’t “show, don’t tell.” The answer is knowing when to show, and knowing when to tell intentionally.  Former literary agent Mary Kole provides consulting and developmental editing services to writers of all categories and genres. She founded Good Story Company in 2019 to create valuable content for writers—like the Thriving Writers Podcast, YouTube channel, and Thriving Writers membership community. Mary has presented at hundreds of regional, national, and international writing conferences, and guest lectured at Harvard, the Ringling College of Art and Design, the Highlights Foundation, and the Loft. She also develops unique and commercial intellectual property for middle grade, young adult, and adult readers with Bittersweet Books. Mary holds an MFA in Creative Writing and has worked at Chronicle Books, the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and Movable Type Management. Her writing reference books include: Writing Irresistible Kidlit (Writer's Digest Books/Penguin Random House), Irresistible Query Letters, Writing Irresistible Picture Books, How to Write a Book Now, Writing Interiority: Crafting Irresistible Characters, Writing Irresistible First Pages, and Show and Tell (Good Story Publishing). Learn more about Mary and her editing services at: www.marykole.com Buy Mary's book: Show and Tell: Going Beyond Creative Writing’s Most Enduring Paradigm   Attend a Writers Conference in 2026:
Read More: Check out our New Literary Agent Spotlight to find your dream agent. Read our Literary Agent Interviews. Dive into our Writing Advice. Comments are closed.
|