When I was a little kid, there was this My Little Pony I wanted so, so, so much. A bright yellow one with wings and pink and blue butterflies all over it. Remember how much Jeannie wanted Tony Nelson to fall for her? (And I don’t blame her. Astronauts are cool.) Yeah, that’s how much I wanted that My Little Pony.

Well, my parents are seriously awesome. On my sixth birthday, my parents woke me up in the morning and guess what they gave me? Yeah, the awesome yellow pony. But that’s not all…they commissioned my piano teacher – who was also in the cake-making business – to make a cake with that pony in frosting. Seriously, it was just too cool. 

Now…I’ve just told you about the sweet pony and the cool cake replica. But…I can also show you. Yes siree, the scanned photo below is me with said cake on my sixth birthday. Also, please note the tank top. For some reason, that tank top has always stood out in my mind as one of my most favorite articles of clothing. Don’t know why. Don’t know why one shirt with stripes, polka dots and bears made such an impression on me. Hmm…maybe ’cause I associate it with the pony cake…Anyway, here’s the photo:

What you’ve just read/seen/witnessed is No. 10 in Melissa’s Totally Stolen Writing Tips: Show, don’t tell.

Now, yes, I am fully aware that this writing tip is probably one of the most repeated in the history of people-trying-to-write-well. But I’m sorry…it’s just plain one of the best. I’m also aware that my example of “showing” isn’t all that relevant unless you’re a picture book author who truly will get to use illustrations to “show.” I just really wanted to tell you about that cake…

So, how this tip is implemented is, of course, somewhat dependent on the genre. But it fits across the board.

I do think some people get a little mixed up and assume that “show, don’t tell” means that a writer should never “describe.” But that’s a bit off. No, especially in fiction, “show, don’t tell” has more to do with how you’re relaying information to the reader than whether or not you decided to tell us the barn is red. For instance, don’t tell me that Abigail got mad. Show me. Let her scream. Or slam a door. Or give someone the silent treatment.

Better yet, go all out and let her bang her head against the wall, get a horrible bruise and have to live with the humiliation of a hippo-shaped purpley-yellowy spot on her forehead for several days…

Show us.

Don’t tell me Jason yelled at Morticia. Show me. Give me the words…

(How’s that line go about this work of fiction in no way representing real people or events…??)

Show, don’t tell. Three simple words that can truly take a scene or a newspaper article or even an essay from plodding to popping. 

I do, however, want to note that “telling” does have its place. Fill a book with all showing and, man, your readers are going to get bogged down in nonessentials. James Scott Bell – GREAT author!! – sums it up this way:

Sometimes a writer tells as a shortcut, to move quickly to the meaty part of the story or scene. Showing is essentially about making scenes vivid. If you try to do it constantly, the parts that are supposed to stand out won’t, and your reader will get exhausted.”

So like all rules, this Totally Stolen Tip has its exceptions.

And by the way, I know I promised accreditation. But on this one, dude, I just don’t have a clue. I Googled Show, don’t tell, and got 263,000,000 results. No lie! (Then I put quotation marks around it and got just over 100,000 results. But 263 million sounded so much more impressive.)

So there you go, Tip No. 1 complete with a photo of an exceptionally cool birthday cake. Bet you’re antsy for Tip No. 2, huh!