As practiced writers, you have probably heard of the 'show don't tell' rule in writing. Many reputable writers endorse it. This is very good advice. Books would be very boring indeed if you wrote 'he was tried and found guilty' for important plot points.

However, it has its limits.

A logical balance I've heard is this: Scenes should either further plot or further character. If this scene does neither, it should either be cut or 'told'.

A good example is of someone spending hours looking for a book in a library. Five pages aren't needed to describe this when the plot and character could be shown much more clearly after the book is found. Allow that scene to stand out by telling the former.

So I'm curious. What are you guys' take on this? What do you think is a good balance?

- Terra

That's a good tip. I'll try to live by it. Showing is definitely the only way to go when writing. But there is a balance.

I'll stop echoing you and let some real conversation start.

I think why it's so heavily endorsed is because many beginning writers fall into the pit of "he did this" "he said that" "he felt this" "he thought that" and not enough active tense. Seen it tons of times in beginning writers' work.

I take "show, not tell" a little differently than most writing books, though, because I tend to think of things very visually, thinking of the whole picture and what it communicates... I think it's a throwback to visual medias such as film.

Show don't tell is good advice to a beginner, but there are two things to keep in mind.

1. Great authors know the rules just well enough to break them, and be better for it.

2. The distinction between "showing" and "telling" is not only unclear, but it changes based on the perspective of the book, the focus of a given scene, etc. If I'm focusing on a character's emotions given a piece of news, I will use showing or telling in a balance that brings emotional depth into focus and draws everything else back.

I agree with the other thoughts posted here. There is a balance between "summary" and "live time" in prose, and how they are used depends on the style of the story.

However, I don't usually consider a sentence like "He spent five hours at the library looking for that book, but he didn't find it" to be "telling." Rather, a sentence like this would be telling: "He was beginning to hate her." In the right context, that sentence could still be effective, as Neil said; but in general, it would be preferable to show his hate through his actions.