Writing 101: Show Don't Tell

  Hi, Musing Matt here, today we're going to talk about the basics of writing some more. There is a literary concept that continues to be either overlooked or ignored by lazy/talentless writers. The concept in question is the idea of "show don't tell." It applies to all mediums of literature (we'll be focusing books, movies/tv, and games for the purpose of simplicity) and can mean the difference between top notch story telling and insulting the intelligence of your audience. The idea behind the rule is that showing the reader/watcher/player what you want them to know is more effective than telling them. The biggest offenders of the show don't tell rule are broadly aimed Hollywood releases and amateur writers. Interesting right?
  Each literary medium deals with the concept in their own unique ways. For books there is only one thing to focus on and that's the writing. All you have to do is make sure that you writing demonstrating what you're trying to get across and not simply telling them. It takes some practice and thought but its not difficult once you figure out what you're doing.
  Movies/tv, on the other hand, provide the easiest way to get this concept right, considering the nature of that particular visual medium. All you need is good actors, talented writers, and a director who knows how to work with them. Good actors can use their facial expressions, body language, and vocal tones to convey much more than just what they are saying (or not saying as the case may have it). Here is a simple example of this rule put in action:

 

  This clip is from the tv series "Firefly." You don't have to have seen the series to get my reason for using this example. All you need to know, other than "Firefly" was an amazing series with top notch writing and you should see it if you haven't, is that the crew of the ship called Serenity just went through some rough stuff and a few people were injured. Some more so than others. Captain Mal Reynolds (the guy on the table) is getting a blood transfusion from the pilot Wash. This is never openly stated. All that is mentioned is that Mal lost a lot of blood. They could have said, "You lost a lot of blood, so we're giving you a transfusion. Wash here is the only one on the ship who matches you blood type." But that would have been unnecessary and insulting to the audience who can just look and figure out what's going on. Another thing demonstrated in this clip is how close everyone on the ship is. This is conveyed through the looks they give each other and how they talk with one another. Again, they could have said, "We have all grown so close over the period of time that we spent on this ship." But, again, that would have been unnecessary and stupid because no one talks like that. The way that the characters interact with one another tells so much more about their relationships than any direct words ever could. The concept of characterization through action is part of expressing show don't tell.
  I had a few ideas in mind for bad examples that tell instead of show but I can't find the clips. A few examples can be found in "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" especially in regards to the relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan. This relationship is very important to the series as a whole so it should have been handled with great care and attention but in the movie we get a couple scenes where they just talk about the many things that they have gone through together that has supposedly made them close. But that's all the audience gets. Outside of those scenes they don't act like they are very close at all. In fact, when Obi-Wan is not around all Anakin seems to do is complain about him. All we have to establish the relationship are a few awkwardly delivered lines of dialogue. If they had built up the relationship between the characters better the fight at the end of "Revenge of the Sith" would have had some weight to it. This problem could have been fixed in several ways. The easiest would have been to actually show that the relationship between the two would have been something that Obi-Wan would look back on in "A New Hope" and say, "Anakin was a good friend." This is where characterization through action comes into play. In "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith" we saw nothing that validated that line from "A New Hope." Eyes and body language would have been the key to fixing this problem. If the two characters weren't so awkward around each other  and talked to each other like old friends the relationship would come across better. Another way that this problem could have been fixed would be if we saw the things that they went through together. Instead of just talking about them we could have seen them. Obi-Wan mentions that Anakin saved his life many times. In war a bond is formed between those who fight beside each other. Any soldier who has seen battle will tell you that. However, the movie doesn't show any of this bond. We are just told about it. This does not provide for effective storytelling for a visually based medium.

  Video games are also a visual medium but they have to handle show don't tell in a different way.  The difficulty of creating good video games is finding the balance between story and gameplay. (Which is an entire topic unto itself so we won't get into that now.) Video games, since they are a visual medium, show through their visuals, but unlike movies/tv, they utilize a 3 dimensional world that the player can look in and around. Not only that but in a video game the player becomes a part of that 3 dimensional world. Video games provide a way to experience show in a way that movies/tv and books can't. They provide a way to interact and influence a world and/or character. Movies/tv and books are essentially watching in one way or another but a video game is being. Game designers should bare that in mind as they craft their games because the consequences of breaking the show don't tell rule for video games are a little steeper than with anything else. In this case when you telling instead of showing is usually done in the form of cutscenes which are put in place to inform the player of what's going on. This is risky considering video games are an interactive medium and cutscenes are not. The more time that the player spends watching instead of interacting the more bored they get. This dilemma is why stories for games have to be told in a completely different way from movies/tv and books. The best way that story is conveyed in a game is through setting, gameplay(characterization through action), and in-game dialogue. A clever combination of these three things can deliver a wealth of information to the player without a single cutscene.
  The best example that I can think of setting telling a story is in the game "Bioshock." It has great writing, gameplay, and voice acting but the star of this show is the setting. The underwater city of Rapture.

  This sign hangs in the surface entrance to the city. It alone speaks volumes about what the player will encounter in the city. The enigmatic leader of Rapture is a megalomaniacal narcissist by the name of Andrew Ryan. The phrase "No gods or kings. Only Man." is his personal motto. He left society to build a city where "the artist would not fear the censor and the scientist would not be bound by petty morality." The player hears this over a speaker as they descend into the city. When you enter the city proper, it becomes apparent that something horrible has happened but you are never told specifically what. However, there are clues throughout. None of the ones listed here are divulged in a cutscene. Throughout the city are posters advertising different things. One of the posters is for a party.

  This poster does more than just reveal a time period for the events of the game. It is a piece to a much larger puzzle. What happened to this city? Another piece comes in the form of the hostile and insane inhabitants of Rapture.
  Notice the masks and outfits. This tells the player that something happened during the masquerade ball because everyone is still wearing their masks and party wear. None of this is stated directly but the implications are there. The game has many more clues to add to the puzzle but I'm not going to do the whole puzzle for you. If you're interested, get the game. Bioshock is one of the best games that I have had the pleasure of experiencing. Its well written, has top notch voice actors, and a well constructed immersive atmosphere. It also serves as a great example of how video games show instead of tell.
  For a poor video game example, there are too many to choose from. Any games that boast their cutscenes on the box are a great place to start because advertising an interactive medium by pointing out the non-interactive element shows that somebody missed the mark.
  With any medium telling instead of showing leads to an uninteresting experience that the audience will likely forget. The work will have made no impact and its creator(s) will have failed. This concept is important for that reason. I know that telling is much easier and as such takes less time but where is the fun in writing something easy. Writers, have some integrity. Don't treat your audience like idiots. The intelligence of our art is, I believe, directly related to the intelligence of our society.
  Thank you for reading, see you next week.