by Christine Bode
From your first draft onward, show vs tell writing tips matter more than you might think. Writers everywhere hear “show, don’t tell,” but few stop to ask what that really means. Worse, many feel shame when they don’t do it perfectly. We won’t let that happen.
Showing and telling are both tools. Neither is wrong. Each has its place. However, using the right one at the right time can deepen emotional resonance, heighten reader involvement, and enrich character engagement. So what does it actually mean to show? How can telling serve your story? And how do we balance the two with confidence?
What Showing Really Means
At its heart, showing lets readers experience the story rather than simply receive information. Instead of stating facts, you help the reader visualize actions, emotions, and settings through sensory detail, dialogue, behaviour, and vivid verbs. In showing, the reader steps into the scene with you.
For example, the phrase “She was angry” is a classic tell. It names an emotion, but it doesn’t invite the reader into the scene. Conversely, “Her jaw clenched, and her boot tapped like a ticking clock” lets a reader infer anger without stating it outright.
This difference is not academic. Showing engages the imagination and builds trust. Your readers begin to live inside your scenes, not just read about them.
What is more, showing is not always the answer either. There are times when telling can keep pace brisk and tidy. Understanding the boundary between the two, without regret, is what separates solid writers from speechifying ones.
Why Writers Struggle with “Show, Don’t Tell”
One reason writers feel inadequate is that “show, don’t tell” is often pitched as a rule, not a guideline. This can make storytelling feel like an endless battle between good and bad prose. But writing is context-driven, not marked by two parts.
You might be writing a fast-moving action sequence where pacing matters more than sensory detail. In that moment, telling may serve your scene better. Validate that choice. Showing is most powerful in scenes of emotional change, deep character involvement, and turning points—where the reader’s attention deserves to linger.
Concrete Ways to Show, Not Tell
Here are practical techniques that today’s writers use to elevate their scenes:
1. Use Sensory Details
Engage the five senses wherever possible. Sight matters, but so do sound, smell, touch, and taste. These details give your scenes depth and immediacy.
Telling: The forest was creepy.
Showing: The wind howled through skeletal branches, moss clinging to damp bark like memories too heavy to shake free.
Specific sensory cues allow the reader to feel a place instead of just picturing it.
2. Anchor Descriptions in Action
Action beats help transform static descriptions into a dynamic experience. A character who paces, fidgets, or pauses speaks without stating an emotion.
Telling: He was nervous.
Showing: He ran a thumb along the collar of his shirt, eyes never still for more than a heartbeat.
Action contextualizes emotion, giving readers a pathway into the character’s mind without spelling everything out.
3. Let Dialogue Reveal Character
Dialogue can reveal more than exposition ever will. What a character says, and how they say it, can uncover motive, conflict, and personality far more vividly than direct description.
Consider how tense or clipped dialogue can show irritation or how hesitant speech can reveal insecurity. Think about those rushed text messages and how you’ve had to backpedal to clarify your tone. What did you mean to say? Likewise, with fiction, your reader will infer meaning from subtext and tone.
4. Use Strong Verbs over Weak Verbs with Adverbs
Weak verbs weighed down by adverbs tend to tell more than show. This is an area in which most authors I’ve worked with can continually improve (along with using stronger adjectives that are not preceded by the intensifier very.) Replacing weak verbs with vivid verbs brings precision and energy.
For example:
“He walked slowly” can become “He trudged”—a single verb that carries meaning and mood.
5. Select Details That Matter
One key to showing effectively is focus—you show the detail that matters to the scene. If nothing in a description advances mood, tension, or characterization, ask yourself whether it belongs there.
Showing is not adding more words. It’s choosing better ones.
When Telling Is the Right Choice
Let me be clear: telling has a role. It can speed pace, summarize transitions, or convey necessary but less compelling information. Effective storytellers know when to compress information without compromising experience.
You can tell to:
- Move between major scenes with clarity
- Summarize historical background without dragging down the pacing
- Provide logistical or structural details that don’t need dramatization
Knowing when to tell sidesteps writerly guilt and strengthens your voice.
Show vs Tell Writing Tips in Dialogue and Plot
Dialogue is not just an exchange between characters. It’s an opportunity to show conflict, reveal emotional subtext, and move the story forward without exposition that interrupts the flow. Avoid clunky exposition in dialogue; let action and speech ebb and flow naturally.
When plotting, treat show vs tell as a strategic choice:
- Show in climactic, emotional, or transformative scenes
- Tell to handle the necessary context or pacing transitions
This balance will give your narrative clarity and momentum.
Practice Makes Perfect
Experimentation is key. After drafting a scene, ask:
- Are there places I can replace general statements with sensory detail?
- Does my dialogue reveal what characters want or feel?
- Can action replace explanation?
- Have I used the best possible verbs?
Revision is where “show, don’t tell” becomes intuitive, not mandatory.
Why Showing Matters for Readers
Showing invites readers to think and feel alongside the narrative. It honours their intelligence and imagination. When done well, it creates immersion rather than distance. Some of the best fiction achieves emotional resonance not by explanation, but by experience, and your manuscript can, too.
Final Thought: Show with Purpose, Not Shame
If you’ve ever felt guilty for telling too much, let that go. Knowing when to show and when to tell is a mark of mastery, not confusion. Writing is a craft, and like all art forms, it grows with practice, patience, and insight.
Use these show vs tell writing tips to elevate your scenes where it matters most. Trust your choices. Let readers in. And when you write scenes that hinge on emotional chemistry or tension, return to Show vs Tell as your quiet compass.
For more helpful writing tips, visit my blog, starting with How to Craft Alluring Romantic Chemistry in Fiction.