I’m sure you’ve heard that you should “show” instead of “telling” in your writing. But what, exactly, does this mean and how do you do it?
“He felt angry” is an example of telling. Telling, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily a horrible thing. If you’re skipping over a long period of time, for example, you want to “tell” it instead of “showing.” “They marched on, across the blazing sands, for five more days.” is a much easier read than an entire chapter of day-by-day minutiae.
However, when you’re trying to move your plot along, it’s better to show what’s going on instead of telling. Rather than “he felt angry,” show his face going red, his heart thumping, his hands trembling, or his teeth gritting. Allow your readers to be deep within the protagonist’s mind, feeling and sensing with him or her.
So you “show” when you want your readers to live the plot and you “tell” when you want to skim over what might be long sections of description. Fairly simple, right? Now you can go over your last manuscript and look for places where you could “show” more.