The Surprising Truth About MRUs: Where They Work—and Where They Don’t
But be careful.
The problem is that “showing” is not always the best strategy. Sometimes you need to “tell” part of your story. Here’s why:
- “Showing” is more fun for your reader, but it’s inefficient. It gobbles up page count like crazy.
- “Telling” is less fun for your reader, but it’s efficient. You can “tell” something in a few paragraphs that would take many chapters to “show.”
As Kimbra noted, sometimes you might want to bring in part of the character’s backstory by “telling” it, rather than by “showing” it. (The way you “show” backstory is by using a flashback. The way you “tell” backstory is by using either narrative summary or exposition.)
