Show, Don’t Tell

As a writer you’ve probably heard this expression a million times either in reference to your own work or someone else, you may have even told another writer this yourself- but what does it really mean when someone says “show us, don’t tell us.” A lot of writers can go their whole career and not truly understand what is being said in that simply phrase. I have even grapple with the meaning of the three letter phrase, “Show, don’t tell.” I recently took a one night online class by Michael Knost and he was able to shed an illumination on the subject that brought the entire subject into a brand new light of understanding. The following is my attempt to summarize the class.