Show, don’t tell? 

‘Show, don’t tell’ is the writer’s mantra. But are there any times when writing a romance novel that you should tell, not show? 

TL;DR answer? Yes. 

Longer answer? Yes, especially when writing romance novels. But you need to do it carefully. 

What’s the difference between Showing and Telling?

Telling gives us the information. Showing makes us feel like we’re there, living the moment. 

For example:

Telling: She wore a red dress with cherries on it.

Showing: Luna spun around on the spot, the floaty red fabric of her dress fluttering around her legs, and the little embroidered cherries at the hem playing peek-a-boo with him as they flashed in and out of view. 

The best way I’ve found to think about this is to consider why we’re told to show, rather than tell. 

Showing brings us into the scene, makes us part of it. It gives us the senses, the emotions, the physical reactions of our characters so we can experience the action as they do. 

And this is vital to our readers’ experience of the book, which is why it’s so important to include it. 

Just not all the time.

That kind of intense reading experience is kind of exhausting, after a while. If you have 300 pages of nothing but visceral showing, the reader never gets a break. Also, showing everything means everything – every meal, every toilet break, every boring lecture your character sits through…

In a romance novel especially, this throws up a few issues. Firstly, because our romances are so packed with emotion, if you put every action on the same level, you lose the emphasis on the moments that really matter. There’s no ebb and flow, no highs and lows in the action and, counterintuitively, that can actually make for a more boring read!

Also, because category romances are so short, and need to be focussed closely on the two romantic leads, if you show every other moment in their life too you’re going to waste a lot of words on things that don’t actually matter to the story. 

So, how do you know when to tell and when to show? 

It comes down to the story you’re trying to tell, and what’s most important to it. For the moments that make that story, you want to show, you want the reader to feel part of the action and live it with your characters. Save telling for the incidentals, the parts where you just need to give the reader the information and move on.

In category romance novels, telling is particularly useful for: 

Transitions.

We don’t need to see the character driving home, if nothing happens and she doesn’t have any mind-blowing revelations on the drive. ‘Cindy drove home on autopilot,’ is fine. Get it down and move on to the next thing that matters. 

Time Passing.

Nobody wants to read a minute by minute description of the character’s day, unless something vital is happening in every sixty second chunk. Instead, try: ‘Autumn turned to winter, until one day…’ Skip ahead to the action that counts.

Backstory.

This one is less clear-cut. As much as possible, you want to weave the backstory into the narrative, showing as you go – especially when it’s important to the story. But sometimes, if taking three pages to get two backstory facts into the dialogue is just going to draw attention away from the story you’re trying to tell, it’s better to just get them down. Try and make it interesting, for sure, but unless it is affecting the action now, feel free to use a quick tell. (Just don’t let it go on beyond a few lines; paragraphs and pages of backstory will yank the reader out of the story.) 

Unimportant secondary characters.

In category romance particularly, there isn’t a lot of room for secondary characters. While you want to make them feel real and rounded to the reader, you can’t spend a lot of pages on them. So, where showing doesn’t add anything, or even takes away from the main point of the scene, feel free to indulge in a little telling to get the important information across and move back to what matters.

Pin this for later!