Kristin Nelson did a stint on her blog about various beginning writer mistakes that she sees a lot in the submissions she receives.  She starts by focusing on the oft-heard term of “show, don’t tell” and uses of dialogue.  Before I give my own view of these mishaps, I just want to say that not only beginning writers make these errors.  Yes, constant (vigilance) practice will certainly ween one off of descriptionless prose but nothing’s ever foolproof.

So we have “show, don’t tell.”  If you’re a writer then there’s no doubt you’ve heard that before.  Personally, I tell like there’s no tomorrow in my drafts.  That’s why no eyes will ever see it except mine.  I crank out the story, make mental notes of what needs to be changed, read it over and make physical notes and change it.  In fact, I just wrote a chapter last night that, as I was writing it, I knew I wanted to show what happened in the past instead of just recount it.  A note for editing.

Anyway, you can’t always show.  You’ll just end up with flowerly, overburdened prose that’s so far over the top its crested the skyscraper.  Like everything else in this world, you need a balance.  If there’s absolutely no reason or no point to show (as in the person’s actions you might want to show do nothing to further the story, for example), then just tell.  Remember you’re working under a word count guide.  The words you’re using have to mean something so don’t waste any.

If what you’ve just glossed over in a retelling does hold vital important to where your story is leading, fluff it up with some showing description.  Round it out.  Make people feel what they’re reading.  If telling is used too much, it creates a disassociation from the reader and makes for flat writing.  Never a good thing.

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