Thanks for the balanced post, Alison. As you say, there is a bias against telling, but this is really just a historical thing. In the Victorian era authors like Dickens and Thackeray told all the time; Thackeray liked to have "little confidential chats" with his readers in the middle of a novel. Then Henry James came along, and Percy Lubbock, condemning the loose baggy monsters full of telling, and by the time I was starting out and reading guides to writing, they all said, "Show, don't tell." But that's just the 20th century arguing with the 19th, and by the end of the 20th, with postmodernism, that was changing again. And of course even at the height of "show, don't tell" it was a shibboleth that no one followed all the time.
I don’t tend to enjoy books that are extreme cases of either telling or showing. On the one hand, books that use telling extensively remind me of authors like Dickens, whom I never cared for…too long and tedious for my taste. I don’t mind a tip in the balance leaning one way or the other though. Updike is a good example of a writer who does quite a lot of telling, but he does so in such a way that you have a rich sense of character, something I value in a read. Martha Wells, the Sci-fi author of The Murderbot series is another who uses telling to great advantage.
I have only just started listening to audio books. I took it up so that I could make double use of my time; grandparenting commitments leave me less book time. I hate having to choose between reading and gardening, or reading and walking…
So enjoyed listening to Braiding Sweetgrass, probably because it gives you a rich sense of a world view that was so different from the one on which I was raised, and of the writer and her experiences. But a few titles, I have ditched part way through. For me, some books lend themselves to listening, so I will choose more carefully in the future.
Thank you for this! And your thoughts on audio books. Much to ponder--about what makes one work and another not so much. Another reason to read aloud as we work.
Thanks for the balanced post, Alison. As you say, there is a bias against telling, but this is really just a historical thing. In the Victorian era authors like Dickens and Thackeray told all the time; Thackeray liked to have "little confidential chats" with his readers in the middle of a novel. Then Henry James came along, and Percy Lubbock, condemning the loose baggy monsters full of telling, and by the time I was starting out and reading guides to writing, they all said, "Show, don't tell." But that's just the 20th century arguing with the 19th, and by the end of the 20th, with postmodernism, that was changing again. And of course even at the height of "show, don't tell" it was a shibboleth that no one followed all the time.
Always, historical context, yes. Thank you for this, Sheldon.
Another excellent article on show versus tell.
I don’t tend to enjoy books that are extreme cases of either telling or showing. On the one hand, books that use telling extensively remind me of authors like Dickens, whom I never cared for…too long and tedious for my taste. I don’t mind a tip in the balance leaning one way or the other though. Updike is a good example of a writer who does quite a lot of telling, but he does so in such a way that you have a rich sense of character, something I value in a read. Martha Wells, the Sci-fi author of The Murderbot series is another who uses telling to great advantage.
I have only just started listening to audio books. I took it up so that I could make double use of my time; grandparenting commitments leave me less book time. I hate having to choose between reading and gardening, or reading and walking…
So enjoyed listening to Braiding Sweetgrass, probably because it gives you a rich sense of a world view that was so different from the one on which I was raised, and of the writer and her experiences. But a few titles, I have ditched part way through. For me, some books lend themselves to listening, so I will choose more carefully in the future.
Thank you for this! And your thoughts on audio books. Much to ponder--about what makes one work and another not so much. Another reason to read aloud as we work.
Quite right--about the rich sense of character.