Freddie deBoer in FdB:
“Show, don’t tell” is among the most repeated piece of writing advice in the English language, up there with hatred for the passive voices, disdain for adverbs, and endorsements of George Orwell’s dusty old essay full of maxims that probably made sense in 1946. It’s a mantra drilled into MFA workshop participants, stamped into the margins of manuscripts, and recited by well-meaning teachers from middle school to graduate seminars. And in its dogmatic form, it could be used to pathologize some of the greatest prose ever written. Like a lot of writing advice, “show, don’t tell” has a legitimate kernel of truth; like almost all writing advice, I think its actual utility for inexperienced writers is near zero.
More here.
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