I agree that Show and Tell both have their place and that the writer must determine which of these perfectly valid techniques is going to best service the story (or work in the case of non-fiction) and the reader. That said, Show Don't Tell is a confusing principle to grasp and follow, and that's (in part) because the most major component left out is The Reader's Mind.

You can't engage the reader's mind and get it involved in the work it is presented with if you just Tell it what is happening utilizing the technique of exposition. That's a passive inflow and it doesn't put the reader's mind in gear and engage it with the story. The formula for fiction writing I've developed to express this is:

Author + Fiction Work + Reader = Satisfying/Good/Great Reader Experience

For Non-fiction:

Author + Non-Fiction Work + Reader = Well informed reader

The author is the cause point or originator of the communication (story/work), but the communication is not a one-way flow from author to reader as most authors and teachers suppose or as is completely left out of the picture. It is a two-way communication, initiated by the author, continued by the author unto its conclusion while engaging the contributions of the reader's intellect and experience with the story.

This is the point that people apparently miss and which leads to so much confusion. It is the missing component of Show Don't Tell, that writers and teachers of writing dance around as an issue but do not reveal and hold up in all its simplicity so that the new writer can quickly grasp and apply it.

The other part of why trotting out a principle such as SDT is so hard to learn is that "Show Don't Tell" is a cryptic and very terse way to express the concept. As an expression meant to teach it leaves out vital information and is at best only a partial communication for it omits that vital piece of information, that important component: the Reader's Mind.

It's one of those horrible little examples of educational arrogance that leaves the teacher looking smart and the student feeling dumb because they don't get it the first time they hear it. Well, who could make sense of such an encrypted incomplete thought?

The complete phrase should be: "Show Don't Tell the Reader's Mind" and even then, I would say using the word "show" is not the best of choices because what the author is really endeavoring to accomplish and what a writing coach or teacher is endeavoring to get the writer to do is: involve the reader's mind in the story, make the reader a participant in the experience of the story.

I'd rather say "Engage the Reader's Mind by Showing--utilizing good description--rather than Telling what's happening."

Telling leaves out the reader's mind, intellect, awareness, senses and emotions. Showing engages the reader's mind and senses in the story and makes them (and thereby the reader) an active participant in the story.

When this process of showing rather than telling is transparent to the reader then a writer has accomplished a high level of craft, for the reader is now wholly engrossed in the experience of the story and nothing else exists to interrupt that experience until it is over and the story's conclusion is reached.

I haven't yet found a better description of this particular principle at work, though many talk about it, as if it is just a cliche to bandy about, and its statement gives them a claim to understanding above and beyond those who do know. Most material written on this principle appears to reiterate and repeat what others say, without really adding anything to it, so that it becomes easier to understand and more importantly use, though there are a few good articles available on the subject here and there on the Internet. A search lead me here.

But the fact of the matter is that most "writers" forget they're writing for a reader, and so write for their own satisfaction alone. Then they wonder why their writing does not succeed. It's because they forgot the reader.

A great story is as dependent upon the reader being a part of it, as it is upon the writer's ability to craft the story itself. And the end result is a reader who has had an experience that engaged their intellect and their senses, and let them discover what's inside. And that is the greatest journey you can take them on as a writer; the journey inside to discover what lies within, waiting to be evoked, provoked and brought to the light of the reader's awareness and thus reveal themselves to themselves.

This is my contribution to the principle of Show Don't Tell. Perhaps now it will make more sense.

NDK, Creative Artist http://allforart.com Copyright (c) 2002 NDK, Creative Artist. All worldwide rights reserved. Permission to redistribute for noncommercial purposes without alteration providing this notice and the signature above remain intact is freely granted. Please report any violation to legal@allforart.com