Does Veeky Forums know of any novels that "tell, don't show" rather than "show, don't tell?"

The Bible

How do I avoid Telling and not Showing? Could anyone give me an example of how to describe someones appearance in a story through showing and not telling? I believe I have the right idea, but I'm not 100% certain.

Picture books

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I came here to bring up Hesse. I've read Siddhartha, Journey to the East, and I'm in the middle of Demian. JttE and Demian both have narrators who are telling about things that happened to them a long time ago. They evaluate everything that's going on, describing what it all means in the greater context. Siddhartha is similar but in third person.
Hesse's talent is that he lays everything out there like that but is still able to leave an air of mystery and keep some questions unanswered. It's a very unique style.

In Moby Dick you think Melville does this at first but then you realise there's a whole lot he didn't tell you and that times when the narrator does seem to be telling you things he's actually alluding to a much greater meaning.

Hemmingway is often pointed to as the most extreme "show don't tell" example. Appearance is one thing I wouldn't say it's a problem to tell about. Mostly it applies to a terrible amateur author who might list off a character's traits the second they're introduced.

>Appearance is one thing I wouldn't say it's a problem to tell about.
It is the biggest ime. Telling is saying something like "the man looked decrepit and sad", showing would be something like "the man was hunched over, now only able to take the smallest lurching steps, with his brow furrowed over his moist eyes". Show don't tell is I give you raw (ish) details about something and you draw your own conclusions rather than skipping the detail and just telling you what to think.

"The woman was passing by, hair dark as can be, skin showed the suns effects, and the way she moved made one think of authority." would be a good way to describe a female cop as opposed to "She had black hair, she was tanned, and she walked like a soldier(or cop or whatever else)."

Pros and cons man. Show don't tell is often talked about like an iceberg sometimes: you can see the surface but you get an impression of something much more vast underneath.

Sometimes tho it can become like an exercise in melodrama.

So is third-person though. Third-person perspective is still a narrator, just one not within the realm of the story. All writing is technically "telling" going by that logic. "Show, don't tell" is metaphorical, meaning that what you tell the reader should operate through implication, rather than robotic description. Perspective doesn't really matter.

The Sun Also Rises is the classic example. Most successful American short stories do this, as well.

Borges? There seems to be little in the way of mimesis in his stories, they're more like essays summarising a larger story.

Jane Austen

Doesn't pretty much every great book have a good balance of showing and telling? Some things are better to show, some are better to tell.

Yeah, fuckin autobiographies and science books.

This was kinda clever, but I bet you stop reading

The entirety of In Search of Lost Time.

"Show don't tell" has nothing to do with physical description, it's matter of avoiding way too much exposition.

The matter is it's better to display the themes, points, "human condition" through the character's interactions and through narrative flux. One important thing to remember, at least during dialogue: we never actually talk about what we're really talking about.

Be physically descriptive all you fuckin want, just don't explain WHY certain characters are behaving the way they do, that kind of thing becomes clear as the story goes on. Body language is especially important.

Another tip, don't use adverbs in the dialogue, if readers can't decide their emotions or the manner in which they say things (tone, etc) either they're stupid, or you're a bad author.

most children's literature

>it's matter of avoiding way too much exposition.
No, it's about replacing sentences like "David looked sad" with sentences like "David tensed up and tears rolled down his cheeks."

oh shit nigger you better be fucking trolling

>telled
>elled
>lled
>led
>ED
Is this was being trolled feels like?

Never describe appearance. Readers like to envision the appearances of characters in their own way; it's a known phenomenon in writing.

This, somewhat

Plus it's a good read mate, don't let the bunnies fool you

he was right though

Partially. "David looked sad" IS exposition, so he only confirmed the very thing he was denying.

I always think of Dostoevsky when I think of telling over showing. I've read and enjoyed a couple of his novels, but they all seem to begin with an extremely long exposition of "here, you'll need all this explicit information to know what's going on when I actually start telling the damn story."

Why should I care about the reader?

That's good thinking. Perhaps also he could throw in a surprise firearm battle that ends with some dirty sex, yes; and it's best he got rid of any words
that might be stumping people, since there are shorter words for all of them anyway. And it's a no-brainer he should take out all of those
metaphors and word-plays that need to be read twice just to understand them. From there he can go ahead and take out just about all the stuff the big-shots
and the teachers would call "literary," because you know there isn't anything that's called that and isn't a waste of time, and wastes time when you could be
reading the book itself (no brainer). Which brings me back to what he ought to add to it, which probably--if he actually was writing about a character's
appearance at one point--includes suspense and excitement in a few places, and definitely just some really enjoyable characters to carry the story along better.
And most people I know like a good ending, so maybe he could go ask around some after he's got most the story written and people can give him an idea of
what ending they'd like the best, and if he wants my advice he could even get with some friends and come up with a good one, and then carry it around
his neighborhood with some paper and pencil and take a vote of just what ending they'd best like to see. If they're voting on it themselves, I don't see
how it could get much better than that. Make sure the book's got a nice looking cover. You have to make sure that the boys and the girls are both keen on
it together. And then when you're telling him this of course be sure he knows if he has any appreciation for me writing this for him he can feel free to give me some of
the money he gets on the book and I won't complain, because I know it's fixed up to make some money now, and it does so happen that is something I haven't got
just enough of at the moment, owing to some medical-related business I'm dealing with. But I've got my chin up, you can tell him. You wouldn't believe how
much book writing advice and story-fixing I've been giving around lately, people are shocked. There's no telling how much all those books together might bring
in once they're off the press and going to stores, you know. So you should tell your friend it would be best for his to come out soon, the very sooner the better,
because there's no telling what that big increase in good books does to the market or how much money I'll have from it all and whether realistically I wouldn't even
be "above the level" of speaking with him anymore altogether, being if all the money I'm getting makes me too big a figure to speak with him, because
I'm not exactly sure how things will start working after that. I'll tell you though... with all that money, it will be better than where I am!

So maybe you tell him,
since I think he's a good guy, that it's my personal opinion that he might do best by taking news of his book direct to the big-shots and university teachers, since
for some reason they seem to be the final judges when it comes to books, and since I think when they understand what it is that you've got they might let the publishers
know to step on it a little, because it would be best all around if this thing got published quickly, I am sure. But anyway, it actually might be best if I just meet the
guy myself, so I can work all this out more easily. And come to think of it, it would be a big favor to me if you could just tell him that I can be found in one restaurant
or another--of those restaurants at the intersection where McDonald's on the west side is--at practically all times of the day, and please make sure you say it exaggeratedly
like that so that he sees my exaggeration, and just tell him that when he comes down I'll probably be there already at one table or another, because I'll see him coming from my house.
Tell him also to be cautious around that area, because there are dozens of stray cats that are wicked and team up and appear to you in this great rush of flailing claws and urine
(use these words), as I'm afraid he might see evidenced in my attire. You can also go ahead and tell him to expect that the cats will have gotten my hair as well. Just, what I
mean by this is generally let him know that my appearance likely will not be the most agreeable (again, take note the words I use), owing to a combination of cat trouble and some
personal circumstances, and that he shouldn't become frightened, either by the state of my dress or by the cat scratches on my arms, which really don't have to be mentioned to him
straight out. Anyway, at the moment I've got my medical business that has to be attended to, and I will be back in touch very soon