The whole "show don't tell" rule got debunked for me last night

I was reading through some old author interviews, specifically Stephen King's On Writing, and he literally says telling is fine. He said readers don't need every single emotion shown through action. Sometimes you just say "he was sad" and move on. I always thought showing was the only way to write good fiction. Kinda blew my mind. Has anyone else found a writing rule that turned out to not be a rule at all?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencer_coleman1mo ago

Quinna89 nailed it with that "knowing when to zoom in and when to pull back" bit. I've definitely spent way too much time writing three paragraphs about a character's sweaty palms when "he was nervous as hell" would have done the job just fine. At this point my own writing is mostly just me zooming in on the wrong stuff and hoping nobody notices.

quinna891mo ago

I read an interview with George Saunders where he said the whole show vs tell thing is just a classroom trick. He talked about how telling can actually build trust with the reader because it shows you're in control of the story. Like when King writes "the place felt wrong" instead of describing every creaky floorboard. Sometimes a simple tell hits harder than three paragraphs of showing a character sweating and checking over their shoulder. It's more like knowing when to zoom in and when to pull back.

spencer7821mo ago

King actually says "show and tell" in that book, not just tell. He even has a whole section about knowing when to do each one.