Show, Don't Tell: How to Write Vivid Descriptions, Handle Backstory, and Describe Your Characters’ Emotions

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Table of Contents

Books in the Writers' Guide Series

Dedication

1. Introduction — What this book will teach you

2. Definition — What show, don’t tell means

3. The importance of showing — Why showing is usually better than telling

4. Nine red flags for telling — How to tell when you’re telling

5. The art of showing — How to turn telling into showing

6. Redundancies — How to avoid telling what you have already shown

7. Danger area 1 — How to handle backstory

8. Danger area 2 — How to handle descriptions

9. Danger area 3 — How to describe emotions

10. Telling in dialogue — How to recognize and fix it

11. Overshowing — How to avoid showing too much

12. The uses of telling — When telling is the better choice

13. Exercises — How to exercise your showing skills

14. Solutions — How to rewrite the telling in chapter 13

15. Conclusion — What to do now

About Sandra Gerth

Other books from Ylva Publishing

Goal Setting for Writers

Time Management for Writers

Point of View

Books in the

Writers’ Guide Series

Goal Setting for Writers

How to set and achieve your writing goals, write a book, and become a successful author

Time Management for Writers

How to write faster, find the time to write your book, and be a more prolific writer

Show, Don’t Tell

How to write vivid descriptions, handle backstory, and describe your characters’ emotions

Point of View

How to use the different POV types, avoid head-hopping, and choose the best point of view for your book

To my publisher, Ylva Publishing, who generously decided to make this book available for free so we can help more authors improve their writing skills.

1. Introduction —

What this book will teach you

Show, don’t tell is probably the single piece of writing advice that beginning writers hear most often from editors and writing coaches. Authors who master this important technique take their writing to the next level and captivate their readers with powerful scenes that keep them turning pages even though it’s two in the morning and they have to work the next day.

But many writers struggle to understand this principle or have difficulty applying it to their own work. Even authors who have already published several books often don’t grasp the finer nuances of showing vs. telling.

I know because I was one of them. When I had a few books under my belt, I thought I knew what showing meant. But then I realized that I had only just scratched the surface. With every novel I wrote and every book about writing I read, I deepened my understanding and discovered more layers to show, don’t tell. As an editor and a mentor, I try to teach my writers what I learned about showing and telling. Since there are only so many writers I can mentor and only so many manuscripts I can edit, I decided to write a book about show, don’t tell so I can help more writers of all skill levels understand this powerful principle and apply it to their work.

Whether you’re a novice writer working on your first story or an established author who has already learned the basics of showing and telling, this book will help you to:

grasp the difference between showing and telling;

understand why showing is such a powerful tool;

spot telling in your own manuscript;

fix bland passages and turn them into compelling scenes;

keep from telling what you have already shown;

avoid the three danger areas of telling;

describe your characters and your setting in interesting ways;

put powerful emotions into your writing;

incorporate backstory into your novel without resorting to telling;

recognize telling in dialogue;

avoid overshowing and swamping your readers with too many details;

learn when telling is actually a good thing;

immerse your readers into your story and keep them captivated from beginning to end.

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS BOOK

The only way to improve your writing is by writing, so this book includes not only concrete examples but also exercises so you can practice what you’re learning—using your own work in progress,