I Write Like

I used to be so annoyed by that "show, don't tell" advice. Writing fiction is called "storytelling" for a reason! There's no showing without telling. Then I discovered that Chekhov never said that. What he said was: "In descriptions of nature one must seize on small details, grouping them so that when the reader closes their eyes they get a picture."
Now, this makes so much more sense.

#writingCommunity #literature #WritingTips #Chekhov #fiction

Mar 25 at 6:08pmWeb
Show threadNicolas Constant5d ago
@iwritelike "show, don't tell" is maybe one of the best advice I've had, with another one : "consider your reader intelligent", and both works together : when you show something, you're telling something, but you consider your reader clever enough to get it by himself.
Show threadI Write Like5d ago
@NicolasConstant Oh, absolutely. As a reader, I also like when the author gives me space to notice things on my own and to figure them out. I try to provide this as an author too, but that "show, don't tell" used to send me spiraling. Where does showing stop and telling start, if all the action is always only writing? I was relieved to discover the original quote :)
Show threadNicolas Constant5d ago

@iwritelike surely knowing the roots of some idea is useful. 🙂

On my side, I always saw this advice in a very basic way: the "tell" being a bit like how a political activist would talk to you "those are the good guys, those are the bad guys". The "show" is more like creating a believable situation that would illustrate those good and bad guys but without you stating it directly. So that the reader may (and should) converge to the same conclusion by themselves.

Show threadI Write Like4d ago
@NicolasConstant I like that comparison to a political activist. :)