When It’s Ok to Tell

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Image by Verteller via Pixabay

Here’s a refreshing article – suggestions for breaking the biggest writing rule of all: Show don’t tell. In a post on Writers Helping Writers, September Fawkes discusses when telling is ok and how to do it well.

“Almost every story needs at least some telling,” Fawkes says. “It can help keep the pacing tight, relay background information, and enhance tone, among other things.”

When is it ok? Some decisions are easy. If your hero is revisiting a scene you’ve already described, there’s no need to go into great detail a second time, unless the setting or the character’s experience of it has changed. Similarly, you don’t need to explain complicated processes or equipment unless the plot calls for it. Say what you need and move on. Location and time jumps also can be dispatched with a tell.

So, how do you do it well? Fawkes give us six suggestions:

  1. Appeal to the senses. Showing also relies on sensory detail, but strong description can work with telling as well. With telling, your description will be briefer and will aid in moving a portion of the story forward quickly.
  2. Use concrete metaphors and similes. As with sensory detail, a comparison can help hide telling with interesting or unexpected language. You convey the same information, but allow the reader to bring their imagination to play, rather than simply hitting them over the head with information.
  3. Use sufficient detail. Season telling with some strong, evocative details. If you want to tell your reader a character loves cars, pick a specific make, model, or year to give them additional visual cues, rather than dropping the information like a stone.
  4. Elevate your writing style. As with the examples above, specific, evocative, and flowing language can disguise telling.
  5. Use closer POV. If more poetic language doesn’t work with your story’s tone, go deeper into your character’s perspective and channel their emotion into the information you need to tell.
  6. Create tension. When you drop information, look for opportunities to suggest a secret or conflict. Again, you can hide the fact that you’re telling information.