Niko LaamanenFounder, Publisher at Konsensus Network

Master the Art of Show, Don't Tell in Writing

3 Mar 2025 · 0 min

0:26

In this segment of the YouTube video, the host discusses how a core principle from screenwriting—avoiding an omniscient narrator and instead showing information through characters' dialogue or on‑screen text—can be applied to general writing. The speaker emphasizes that writers should not explain directly to the reader; instead, they must convey story details by having characters express them or by embedding them in the narrative environment, thereby forcing the audience to infer meaning. This advice is presented as a practical technique to make prose more vivid and engaging.

TranscriptAuto-generated · 0 min

Yeah, exactly, exactly.
And it's— that's one thing from, you know, screenwriting advice that I think can play into normal writing, is it's a really good idea to say, just imagine that you— there's no narrator, you cannot explain anything, you've just got to— you've got to show it all, you've got to have it in people's mouths or written out, but you can't just say blah blah blah.