The Fallacy of Showing versus Telling

Bah, can’t find a good link to set the stage so I have to do it myself.

Today we’re going to be talking about design. Specifically, about designing a sentence. So, let’s start with some words of wisdom from an old master:

“Perfection (in design) is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but rather when there is nothing more to take away.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

For all the writers out there, allow me to translate:

“Omit needless words.” - Strunk and White

You see, in any writing class I’ve ever been in I’ve been told to “show” but not to “tell” – to use vivid, descriptive passages in order to create a well crafted sentence (And one that’s, as you might imagine a bit longer and wordier and more complicated than the other way around. Here’s some examples. Look at that word count bloat as the design iterates.). But in any design class I’ve been told that simplicity not complexity is the goal. To reduce clutter and redundancy and strip things down to the essentials. Yet I hold these are not irreconcilable opinions (Just as I hold they’re not unentirely unrelated fields of creative expression.) so, why then, do apparently well-designed sentences tend to be longer and more intricate when the principles of good design would seem to say “I went to the store” is the height of elegant construction?

Telling someone “show” and don’t “tell” is all well and good when they’re first starting to learn. Descriptive, active writing is, of course, a nice thing. And getting people to put aside their preconceptions and stretch themselves creatively is a goal in and of itself. But it’s a false stricture. A way of telling people to write efficiently if not effectively. Whether something is showing or telling depends not just on the one sentence but upon the whole text. If I’ve spent he past three chapters (or paragraphs, or sentences, or whatever) describing “I” and the previous two the “store” then there’s no need – if I’ve done my job as a writer – to include such description in that one sentence because the rest of my design has encoded that information into the text already. It’s redundant and if a sentence like “I went to the store” fits my style and compliments the rest of my design – either by enhancing or contrasting it – then it’s a perfectly good way to write. A sentence rarely stands along in writing and it’s the effect of all of them together than determines what’s being shown and what’s being told. And in a story that’s been consciously designed you’re telling each and every line to the reader. What matter is not that you can stick to some arbitrary rules but whether or not you can do that telling efficiently. Because not wasting any effort is the hallmark of good design.

Next time: I take a baseball bat to anyone who ever said to me “write what you know” not “write about what you’re passionate”.