Show Don't Tell

This one is for the fiction writers out there. This is one of the most-repeated rules in fiction writing, but it's not an easy rule to understand and follow.

Show, don't tell. Telling is easy and simple. Showing is much harder. Showing takes more work and more words. Showing also works much, much better.

I grew up reading the Hardy Boys, the classic stuff published in the 60s. In pretty much every novel, Frank and Joe would get the same sentence of description. Frank was the serious and thoughtful one, while Joe was more impulsive. How much better it would have been to craft a scene that would demonstrate these traits and give us a chance to get to know the characters on our own.

Imagine if the Sherlock Holmes stories began by telling us that Holmes is brilliant, moody, and eccentric, while Watson is an earnest and not as bright. Anyone who has read a few of the stories knows exactly what Holmes and Watson are like. We don't have to take the author's word for it. We've seen the two men in action.

There are, of course, pitfalls to the rule of showing and not telling. We can indicate an emotion in someone by describing their body language. Someone might stiffen, sneer, or clench their fists. However, sometimes it is better to be succinct. Sometimes it is better just to say that a character is annoyed, rather than running through a list of twitches and clenches.

Weeding Out Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Usually (but not always) it is better to eliminate the adverb. Instead, choose a better word to replace the word being modified.

"He ate his food quickly" could be "he bolted his food" or "he wolfed down his food." "She said loudly" could be "she screamed," "she shouted," or "she bellowed." The version without the adverb is actually more descriptive, as well as stronger.

Adverbs that modify adjectives are equally suspicious. "Very small" could be "tiny." "Fairly fat" might be "chubby." An adverb that is modified by another adverb can probably be replaced. "He fights extremely well" is not as elegant as "he fights superbly."

Not every adverb needs to be removed. Consider the above example, "he fights superbly." There isn't a good verb that means "fight superbly." Sometimes the adverb should be left alone.

Adding Variety to your Sentences

If your writing becomes monotonous, you may need some variety among your sentences. If you use the same sentence structure more than twice in a row, your readers may become bored. You can mix things up by adding a particularly long sentence, allowing your prose to flow and swirl as you explore an idea in depth, but what can you do after that? Sentence fragment! Break the rules to give your paragraphs some zip.