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Rant: I abandoned the 'show don't tell' rule for a flash piece and it worked better than I expected
Honestly, every prompt community pushes showing over telling so hard that I felt like a traitor trying it. Last month I wrote a 300 word piece for a contest where I just flat out told the reader the character was jealous and scared, no metaphors, no sensory details. It placed second out of 80 entries, which shocked me. What I learned is that telling can create a blunt, honest voice that fits certain narrators, especially first person ones who wouldn't overthink their feelings. Ngl, I'm not tossing the rule entirely, but I use it way less now. Has anyone else had a prompt response win or get praise after breaking a golden rule on purpose?
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noahbaker1mo ago
That bit about "blunt honest voice" really hit me. Taking that idea further, Ive noticed the whole show dont tell thing mostly exists so writers dont sound lazy, but blunt telling can actually be a style choice when the narrator is someone who just doesnt do self reflection. Like people who are jealous usually dont sit there analyzing their gut feeling, they just know they hate the other person. So telling can be way more real than showing if the character is simple or honest that way. Ive seen it work best in flash pieces especially cause you got no room to build a whole scene anyway, so a straight up confession hits harder than a whole paragraph of clenched fists that the reader has to decode. Honestly I think the rule should be more like show when you want distance, tell when you want intimacy, not one size fits all.
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