Show, Don't Tell Exercises for Fiction Writers

To practice “show, don't tell,” choose a moment in which a character has something at stake. Replace a broad statement with an action, a line of dialogue, or a detail that lets the reader understand that pressure. Then check whether the extra space helps the scene. Sometimes a direct statement or a short summary does the job better.

These six exercises work on different decisions: what a character does, what they notice, what they say, which moment deserves space, what a viewpoint can know, and what to summarize. Each includes an original practice example and a question to help you assess your version. The examples are standalone fictional scenes; they are not excerpts from published books or recordings of AI output.

The free exercise files above include a three-page PDF you can fill in or print, plus an editable Markdown version. Pick one exercise to begin. You can work through it in a notebook, a document, or your existing draft.

What showing and telling do in a scene

Telling gives the reader information directly: “Mina dreaded her father's questions.” Showing gives the reader evidence to interpret: Mina hides the envelope when she hears him coming. The second version puts a particular behavior on the page, but it also leaves more uncertain. She might be protecting herself, protecting him, or postponing an argument.

The useful question is what the reader needs at this point. If the scene turns on a difficult choice, staying with actions and responses can make that choice felt. If the reader only needs to know that a week passed, a summary can move the story forward.

You can also combine them. “Mina dreaded her father's questions” may be exactly the line your narrator would use before a revealing exchange. For the exercises, a temporary restriction helps you try another approach. It does not become a rule for every sentence in your novel.

1. Give emotion something to do

Starter:

Mina was anxious about showing her father the rejection letter.

Try it: Write 40–70 words. Give Mina an immediate goal and an action that complicates it. For this pass, leave out anxious, nervous, and afraid.

One possible version:

Mina laid the rejection letter beside her father's plate, with the decision face down. When his chair scraped the floor, she set the bread basket over it. “Eat first.” He reached for a roll. She moved the basket back.

Her competing actions suggest that she wants him to know and wants to delay his response. The word rejection stays because the reader needs to understand what the letter means. Hiding that fact would create a different kind of uncertainty.

Check your version: Can you point to the action that expresses the pressure? A racing heart or a clenched fist can fit, but ask whether the behavior belongs to this character's problem. Handling the letter gives Mina something specific to struggle over.

If the action feels arbitrary, use the character profile worksheet to clarify the person's immediate goal and the cost of acting.

2. Choose details through a viewpoint

Setting: A rented room has a sticking window, a second lock, and a clean patch where a picture hung.

Try it: Write two short views of the same room: one from someone seeking privacy, one from someone waiting for a partner to move in. Use at most two details per view. Keep the physical facts unchanged.

Someone seeking privacy:

Noor tried the second lock before putting down her bag. The window needed both hands to lift. Good. Anyone opening it would have to make an effort.

Someone waiting for a partner:

Noor held their photograph against the clean rectangle on the wall. Too small. She tried it beside the window. When he arrived, she could ask him to help with that sticking frame.

The room does not become objectively safe or welcoming. Noor's attention gives the details their significance. In the second version, the sticking window gives her a small task she can imagine sharing.

Check your version: What does the character value, expect, or worry about? You do not need a detail from every sense. Choose the ones that matter to the person in the room, and cut details that repeat the same effect without adding anything.

3. Let a reply carry the feeling

Starter:

Asha was hurt that her friend had missed another rehearsal.

Try it: Write four lines of dialogue. Asha wants a commitment to the next rehearsal; the friend wants to leave. Add at most one action beat.

One possible version:

“Will you be here Thursday?” Asha asked.

“I'll text you.”

She erased his name from the rehearsal sheet. “Before I ask someone else?”

“Wait. What time Thursday?”

The hurt takes the form of a changed arrangement. Asha makes it harder for her friend to leave the commitment vague. Her action could also read as impatience or self-protection; the surrounding story can shape which feeling matters most.

A direct line can work too. “I needed you here” might be the admission she has avoided for several scenes. Keep it if saying it changes the exchange. Subtext should give the reader something to infer while leaving enough information to follow the conversation.

Check your version: What is each person trying to get the other to do? Does the reply respond to that pressure? The natural dialogue exercises offer more practice with requests, evasions, and distinct voices.

4. Expand the moment that changes things

Starter:

For a week, Eli practiced asking for a pay rise. On Friday, he finally asked.

Try it: Keep the week in one sentence. Spend 50–80 words on the moment he could retreat or commit. Show an obstacle and his response.

One possible version:

All week, Eli rehearsed the request on the walk to work. On Friday, his manager waved him away from the office door. “Monday?” Eli glanced at the rota in his hand. He had covered three empty shifts, each pencilled beside his own. “Five minutes today,” he said, and laid it on the desk.

The week remains a summary. The scene slows where Eli could accept another delay but chooses to press his case. The rota supplies a reason for the request, and his manager has something concrete to answer.

Adding the whole walk, every rehearsal, or a long description of the office would change the pacing. Those details could matter in another version, but this exercise puts the space around the decision.

Check your version: Find the point where a different response would send the scene another way. Did you give that point enough room? If no choice feels possible, try the stuck-scene exercises before polishing the description.

5. Separate observation from certainty

Starter:

Watching from the doorway, Lena knew that Rafi was ashamed of losing the key.

Try it: Keep Lena as the viewpoint character. Write what she can observe, then make any inference recognizably hers. Do not confirm Rafi's private thoughts.

One possible version:

Rafi searched the same coat pocket a third time. When Lena stepped into the doorway, he stopped. “I had it at lunch.” She nearly offered to help. Perhaps he couldn't bear to hear her say she'd warned him.

The repeated search and interrupted movement are observable. Lena's explanation is presented as a possibility. It may reveal as much about their relationship as it does about Rafi. He could be embarrassed, annoyed, or worried about what the missing key allows someone else to do.

Showing a gesture does not make its meaning certain. You can preserve that uncertainty until Rafi speaks or acts again. If your narrator has access to his thoughts, direct interior narration may be appropriate; that is a different viewpoint choice.

Check your version: Underline what Lena can see or hear. Circle what she infers. Has the narration quietly turned one of her guesses into a fact?

6. Use telling to reach the next choice

Situation: After an unsuccessful visit, someone spends three uneventful days waiting for an answer.

Try it: Bridge those days in one or two sentences. Then write the first action that changes the situation. Keep 50–80 words overall.

One possible version:

For three days, Bea checked the shop each afternoon and found the same closed sign. By Thursday she had stopped bringing the broken clock. That was when the repairer appeared at her gate with its missing hand in a paper envelope. Bea left the gate latched. “Where did you find that?”

The summary establishes a pattern and a small surrender of hope. The arrival breaks the pattern, so the writing moves into a particular action and spoken question. The gate introduces a choice about whether to let the repairer closer.

You could spend a scene on each visit if each one changed Bea's understanding. When the visits serve mainly to establish waiting, a brief summary gives the next development more room.

Check your version: What did the summary allow you to skip? At which sentence should the reader slow down again? Keep a direct statement when it carries the needed information, pace, or narrative voice.

Apply one exercise to your own draft

Choose a paragraph where the reader's experience feels different from what you intended. Save the original, then name one job for the revision: make a difficult refusal tangible, distinguish what two people notice, or move through an uneventful interval faster.

Try the exercise that matches that job. Compare both versions in context and ask:

• What can a reader now understand or infer?
• What useful fact became less clear?
• How much time does the passage take on the page?
• Does the wording still belong to this narrator and viewpoint?
• Which version better prepares the next action or reply?

Keep the parts that help. A single concrete detail may be enough. You can restore an emotion word, remove an elaborate gesture, or combine a summary with a shorter scene. The downloadable PDF has room for concise practice passages; use the Markdown version or your draft for longer work. Save a copy after filling the PDF, and choose “fit to page” if printing on a different paper size.

Use AI to compare options with a clear brief

If you want AI help, state the purpose of the scene and the limits of the edit. A useful starting request is:

Read this paragraph. Identify one place where a general statement could become a consequential action, and one place where summary helps the pace. Explain what the reader would gain or lose. Preserve the viewpoint and established facts. Do not edit files yet.

Check the diagnosis before asking for a rewrite. A suggestion that adds gestures to every line may slow an otherwise effective exchange. Ask for one focused alternative and read it beside the original.

In GeekArt, keep the passage and relevant character notes together, attach a specific direction to the passage, and review the marked changes before deciding what stays. The annotation and revision guide explains the controls. The worked revision example shows how to keep some suggestions and reject others.

Common questions

Does showing always require more description?

No. A short reply or a single action can carry an inference. Adding more sensory detail helps when the details change what the reader understands or experiences. Extra description can also interrupt a moment that already works.

Can I name emotions directly?

Yes. Direct emotion, interior thought, summary, and scene can work together. The temporary restrictions in these exercises help you discover alternatives. Decide what to keep by reading the result in context.

Is there a correct answer for each exercise?

There are many possible answers. The worked versions demonstrate a particular choice and its consequences. Use the check beneath each exercise to assess your own solution, then keep the language and emphasis that fit your story.