For my fellow authors, something about writing

Showing vs. Telling:


That rule is driving me crazy, why? Because it's easier to tell than show. But I am still learning this rule. And it's not easy only because I am a new writer. The more I write and learn the rule the more I see how important it is and how the story strengthens.

Telling:

Three years ago, Kristina Johnson married John Hudson. Although both had grown up in London, England and didn't want to leave, John had accepted a job in Spain and moved his young family. He found he liked the mountains and open sky, but Kristina was frustrated and unhappy. This all became clear the night they attended a party at their friend's house."

Showing:

"I told you I didn't want to go to this," Kristina said as she stood beside John on their friend's steps. "It's just going to be as lame as every other party we've been to since we got here."
"You used to love parties," John said, avoiding eye contact.
"Yeah, well, that was back in London. But Spain isn't London."
"No," He looked at the mountains colored flame by the setting sun, the sky he had come to love. Then he looked at Kristina, glowering even before they went inside. In three years of marriage, she had changed so much. They both had.

Showing dramatizes a scene in a story to help the reader forget he is reading, to help the reader get to know the characters, to make the writing more interesting.

When to tell:

"Show, don't tell" as a rule, like all rules, has exceptions. "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 readers will get exhausted."
A story that contains only showing would be incredibly long; therefore, a narrative can contain some true telling, so some telling is Okay. Scenes that are important to the story should be dramatized with showing, but sometimes what happens between scenes can be told so the story can make progress. For example, if Alvairo is a character in a story, he could do the following things:
Have an argument with his friend
Drive to the house of the girl he loves, Alaina
Have an argument with Alaina.
The writer could show the arguments with his friend and Alaina, but tell the reader Alvairo drove over to Alaina's house without excess narrative. As long as nothing important to the story happens on that drive, then the writer need only tell the reader.