The 'show don't tell' rule gets pushed way too hard in writing prompts

I've been in this community for about 6 years now, and I keep seeing people post prompts that are basically "show, don't tell" exercises. Like describe a storm without saying rain or wind. But that rule works best in scenes, not in every single sentence. When I first started out in 2018, I tried to follow that advice literally for a whole short story, and my beta reader said it felt like reading a puzzle instead of a story. Has anyone else noticed prompts getting too focused on one writing trick instead of crafting an actual plot?

3 comments

3 Comments

markh8524d ago

Wait isn't "show don't tell" more about making the reader feel something instead of just being told how to feel? The rain example you gave is more of a writing exercise than actual storytelling advice.

torres.thea24d ago

Friend of mine once wrote a scene where a character was sad and just said "she felt sad." Nobody cared. Then she rewrote it so the character kept folding laundry wrong and burning toast because she couldn't focus on anything else. That scene made people cry. It's not about rain, it's about finding the small weird details that tell the whole feeling.

fiona_west2124d ago

Is it weird that this advice works for real life too? Like, telling someone "I'm stressed" gets a nod, but forgetting to put milk back in the fridge three times in a row gets them genuinely concerned.