“Show, don’t tell” is bad advice

This bit of advice is seen everywhere and it strikes me as something born out of screenplay writing, not novel writing.

Now, I’ll admit—I’m being hyperbolic in the title. It is not per se bad advice, but it is overused and not fully understood. Of course, there are things you ought to show instead of telling. But many things can be told, specially because telling is effective for pacing.

I was watching this excellent video analyzing George R. R. Martin’s prose. Martin is one of my favorite writers when it comes to the craft and I’m a fan of his prose because of how beautifully it flows. However, some comments stated a dislike of his style because of how “telling” it is. Indeed, the excerpt taken as example in the video is one filled with tell, instead of show.

While I can definitely recognize how much he tells, it doesn’t strike me as bad writing. Instead, I think it reflects a mastery over pacing. Because if Martin were to show everything the story would’ve become even longer. Some details ought to be told.

Another thing is that I often find classic works being more “telling” than “showing.” When you read classic fantasy, you come across writers who want to tell you a story. They write as if they were speaking over a bonfire, because that’s the magic of storytelling. But it seems to me that a modern audience wouldn’t tolerate writers like Ursula K. LeGuin, J. R. R. Tolkien, T. H. White, or… even Martin.

It seems to me that more commercial sorts of writing take this advice further, because commercial writing is often concerned with creating a sense of “cinematography” within the reader’s imagination. I’m not criticizing this; in the contrary, one has much to learn from it too. It has its place and it seems to be an effective technique for these works.

But that’s my point. Everything has its place. We can’t just assume someone who has written a colossal work of fiction is a “bad writer” because they took a more classical voice and told, instead of show. One of Martin’s strengths is how he cements character’s points of view in a unique way, and how he takes us inside their subjectivity and interiority. And that’s only achievable through telling, through passages filled introspection. This is a habit of classic works.

As with any rule, you need to master it in order to break it. So I say, don’t be so strict with this one piece of advice. There’s stuff you can tell. Relax.