That 'show don't tell' writing rule felt like gatekeeping until my critique group ripped apart my first 30 pages

Had three people point out I wrote 'he felt angry' eight times in one chapter and after forcing myself to rewrite each scene with only actions the whole thing actually read like a real story, anyone else have a writing rule they fought against that ended up fixing their work?

3 comments

3 Comments

evan_davis12d ago

Couldn't disagree more, show don't tell is just a tool that works for some scenes and not others.

susan8112d ago

Eight times? In one chapter? Okay that's honestly kind of hilarious but I'm also impressed you let them tell you.

ramirez.vera12d ago

@susan81 I think you're counting those eight times wrong, since that was actually across two chapters not one. Not trying to nitpick or anything, just wanted to flag it in case it changes how you see the scene.