Show, don't tell

For the song, see Show Don't Tell.

Show, don't tell is a narrative technique used in various kinds of texts to allow the reader to experience the story through actions, words, subtext, thoughts, senses, and feelings rather than through the author's exposition, summarization, and description.[1] It avoids adjectives describing the author's analysis and instead describes the scene in such a way that readers can draw their own conclusions. The technique applies equally to nonfiction and all forms of fiction, literature including haiku[2] and Imagist poetry in particular, speech, movie making, and playwriting.[3][4][5][6]

The concept is often attributed to Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, reputed to have said "Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." In a letter to his brother, Chekhov actually said, "In descriptions of Nature one must seize on small details, grouping them so that when the reader closes his eyes he gets a picture. For instance, you’ll have a moonlit night if you write that on the mill dam a piece of glass from a broken bottle glittered like a bright little star, and that the black shadow of a dog or a wolf rolled past like a ball."[7]

By the mid-twentieth century, it had become an important element in Anglo-Saxon narratological theory. According to dramatist and author Arthur E. Krows, the American dramatist Mark Swan told Krows about the playwriting motto "Show – not tell" on an occasion during the 1910s.[8] In 1921, the same distinction, but in the form picture-versus-drama, was utilized in a chapter of Percy Lubbock's analysis of fiction, The Craft of Fiction. In 1927, Swan published a playwriting manual that made prominent use of the showing-versus-telling distinction throughout.[9]

  1. ^ Network, The Learning (August 4, 2021). "Teach Writing With The New York Times: Our 2021-22 Curriculum". The New York Times.
  2. ^ British Haiku Society- occasional paper 'English Haiku: a Composite View'2002
  3. ^ Wells (1999). How To Write Non-Fiction Books. Writers' Bookshop. p. 65. ISBN 1902713028.
  4. ^ Warren (2011). Show Don't Tell: A Guide to Purpose Driven Speech. Jerianne Warren. ISBN 978-0615498355.
  5. ^ Mackendrick, Alexander (2005). "Introduction". In Cronin, Paul (ed.). On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director (paperback). Scorsese, Martin (foreword). New York City: Faber & Faber. p. xxiii. ISBN 978-0-571-21125-8. LCCN 2005925999. OCLC 1130836656. OL 23024519M.
  6. ^ Hatcher (2000). The Art and Craft of Playwriting. F+W Media. p. 43. ISBN 1884910467.
  7. ^ Yarmolinsky, Avrahm (1954). The Unknown Chekhov: Stories and Other Writings Hitherto Untranslated by Anton Chekhov. Noonday Press, New York. p. 14.
  8. ^ Krows, Arthur Edwin (1928). Playwriting for Profit. Longmans, Green and Company. p. 28.
  9. ^ Swan, Mark (1927). How You Can Write Plays: A Practical Guide-book.