[Namsan Ddalkakbari] Writing That Gets Read "Shows" Rather Than "Tells"

Tips for Showing, Not Telling:
How to Engage Readers with Vivid Details and Strong Verbs

[Asia Economy, reporter Seo Mideum] "Tina was angry."

"Tina slammed the door shut as if she would break it, then stomped back to the kitchen. 'What on earth was I thinking?'"

"Show, don't tell" is a fundamental principle of novel writing. Sandra Gerth also emphasizes the power of showing in her book "The Power of Description." According to her, "telling" is when "the writer delivers conclusions and interpretations directly to the reader, not allowing them the opportunity to think for themselves or to figure out how to feel." In contrast, "showing" is "providing readers with enough concrete and vivid details so that they can draw their own conclusions."

The reason novels should "show" is simple. "Readers do not read books just to obtain information." Novel readers "read for enjoyment and to escape into another world." In other words, telling is "interpreting information for the reader, depriving them of the chance to think about and discover the world of the story on their own."

"Readers do not simply want to know roughly what happened; they want to see the specific situation." For example, saying "I found a body in the truck bed covered with a tarp" is less compelling than "I climbed into the truck bed and pulled back the tarp. The nauseatingly sweet stench made me stagger backward. Lifeless eyes stared up at me. I covered my mouth with my hand and swallowed a scream."

The author offers several tips for distinguishing telling from showing. One is to check for the use of the past perfect tense. Past perfect forms like "had seen" tend to "explain" too much background information about a character. Therefore, it is recommended to use the search function in your word processor to find and revise past perfect forms to simple past tense where possible.

Adverbs are also tools of telling. In the sentence "The dog tucked its tail between its legs and whimpered anxiously," the word "anxiously" is an unnecessary explanation. "The dog's posture and whimpering already 'show' its anxiety, so there's no need to add the adverb." Notably, Kim Hoon, the renowned author of "Song of the Sword," is famous for not allowing adverbs in his writing. Avoiding adverbs can make your prose more refined and concise. To find adverbs, use the search function to look for common adverbial suffixes.

Adjectives like "interesting" or "beautiful" can also be forms of telling. Rather than saying, "I felt afraid," it is more engaging to show: "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. My legs trembled as I walked down the stairs."

Labeling emotions with words like "astonished," "resentful," "surprised," or "confused" is not a good approach. The author suggests, "It can be helpful to keep a list of commonly used emotion words. When revising your writing, search for and replace those words. Instead of naming the emotion, use the character's actions, thoughts, instinctive reactions, and body language to 'show' what they are feeling."

However, sometimes naming an emotion can be effective-specifically, "when the emotion is the subject of the sentence and is paired with a strong verb." For example, "Fear clawed at him like a wild animal." But "this technique should be used sparingly; if overused, it will stand out too much to the reader."

So, how can you show effectively? The author introduces various methods, but above all, emphasizes the use of the five senses. "In every scene, imagine you are the point-of-view character and describe what they see, hear, smell, taste, and feel." For example: "I stuck my face out the open car window and breathed in the fresh scent of pine. The cold air made my cheeks burn and brought tears to my eyes."

Using strong and dynamic verbs is also a good method. Instead of writing "He walked," use "He strolled," "He sauntered," or "He stomped his feet" to "show specifically how he moved," which creates much more vivid imagery. Be wary of weak expressions, which generally include all forms of "to be" and "to have." Rather than saying, "A gaunt man was wearing an oversized coat," describe it as, "The coat hung loosely on the man's thin frame." This will help you write prose that captures the reader's attention much more effectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.