The Art of Balance: Show vs Tell

 

When the writers hear the advice "Show, don't tell" from fellow authors it seems easy enough, but it is arguably the most misunderstood advice in storytelling. A lot of people take it as never tell anything and only show. Yeah No. That's not what show don't tell means. Storytelling for a long time had been about striking the balance between explanation and description. The truth is that showing is all about when not to tell than eliminating telling all along.

A lot of beginner writers make a rookie mistake of assuming that everything has to be felt. Sometimes you just need to get to the point. Let's take a situation as example: a young boy played all day and returned home. There are two ways writers can go about it. Telling and showing and down below I put both examples and tell you which one sounds contextually better.

Showing: The boy’s eyelids drooped, his chin sank toward his chest, and his body swayed as if it were a boat rocking in invisible waves. His breathing grew long, heavy, and uneven as his legs wobbled their way to bed.

Telling: The boy was exhausted and went to bed.

Here, telling is better because the audience already knows the boy played all day. We don’t need to go the extra mile to drive the point home, since most of us have been in that situation. The point is that showing works better when the audience needs a strong emotional or sensory connection to understand something unfamiliar. For example, a man being stabbed is an experience most readers are not familiar with, so showing works best there. But for straightforward or familiar situations, like a tired boy going to bed, telling works just fine.

 Telling is valuable when dramatization is not necessary, when the goal is to move the story forward, provide context, or set the tone. For example: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” In just one line, Austen establishes the novel’s satirical tone and social commentary. Another classic example is: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This remains one of the greatest opening lines in literature, and it is pure telling at its finest.

You want an example within narrative I suppose

“The rest of the ride was uneventful. The road was growing rougher, the land wilder and more desolate as they passed out of the farms and holdfasts.”

This is telling, because Martin had already established the landscape of the North. Think of it this way: your first day at work is eventful, something you will remember for a long time because well it is a first. But as the days continue, they blur together. Unless something dramatic happens, they are not worth recalling in detail.

An adventure in a novel works the same way. The initial steps are exciting—you might describe the wonder of entering a forest on day one. But if you keep describing every small detail when nothing significant happens, the writing loses impact. That is when telling works better, because it smooths over transitions and keeps the story moving.  

Movies follow the same rule. In The Lord of the Rings, early in the journey we get dialogue and atmosphere, but as the quest continues, much of the travel is shown through brief montages.

The rhythm should be clear: an eventful beginning, a brisk middle, and a strong payoff.

Telling should be used to control pacing in slower parts of the story, summarize unimportant situations, express internal thoughts or emotions quickly, especially during disagreements involving characters who are not POV, and to convey backstory or exposition for minor relationships or events that are not central to the main plot. For example, if the protagonist, a broke hero, receives armor from an old blacksmith for a cheap price, this can be explained through dialogue or a brief exposition, such as showing that the hero once helped the blacksmith find a rare metal. You can also tell if something minor happened to one of non pov main characters. I will give you example that shows how grr used both show and tell effectively in one scene. I didn't handpick it per say, but I just started game of thrones and it is wonderful and ofcourse well written enough to be used a s an example.

“My name is Marillion,” the singer said, plucking a string on his woodharp. “Doubtless you’ve heard me play somewhere?”

. “I meant to do you honor. An homage to your beauty. In truth, I was made to sing for kings and high lords.”

“Oh, I can see that,” Catelyn said. “Lord Tully is fond of song, I hear. No doubt you’ve been to Riverrun.”

“A hundred times,” the singer said airily. “They keep a chamber for me, and the young lord is like a brother.”

Catelyn smiled, wondering what Edmure would think of that. Another singer had once bedded a girl her brother fancied; he had hated the breed ever since. “And Winterfell?” she asked him. “Have you traveled north?"

Telling Elements

1. “They keep a chamber for me, and the young lord is like a brother.” – This quickly conveys the singer’s relationship with the Tullys without showing a full scene of his visits. Obviously there wouldn't be scene because he probably never visited there as a friend and probably went there to sing for pennies.

2. “Another singer had once bedded a girl her brother fancied; he had hated the breed ever since.” – This summarizes Edmure’s past feelings in a single sentence rather than dramatizing the full incident. It affectively disputes that man's lies.

Showing Elements

1. The dialogue itself – the singer speaking about singing for kings, Catelyn’s responses – shows character personality, tone, and interaction.

2. Catelyn’s smile and wondering what Edmure would think – shows her internal reaction visually and emotionally.

"Together, they create an impression. We see the singer’s personality through his actions, such as introducing himself while plucking the strings. He comes across as confident and flirty, and through dialogue, we also notice that he tends to embellish to impress his patrons and show that he is worth more than he actually is.