ten bad pages The craft of writing. Obtained via strikethrough.
A legal-pad cover: Show Me Something. When to show, when to tell, and which details matter. $7

Show Me Something

A Ten Bad Pages Creative Writing Guide

$7

Detail and description, and why “show, don’t tell” isn’t a universal rule.

“Show, don’t tell” is useful advice. Sometimes.

So, you’ve been told to show, not tell.

At some point somebody writes three words in the margin of your story: Show, don’t tell. Maybe with three exclamation points, as though you’ve committed a crime against literature.

It’s useful advice. Sometimes. Treat it as a rule for every sentence and nobody in your fiction can be angry without a clenched jaw, and every room needs a full inventory. Show Me Something shows you when showing makes a scene stronger, when telling gets the job done, and how to pick the details that earn their place.

It works with whatever your professor assigns. Follow your professor’s format, and your professor’s AI policy always wins.

What's inside

  • Show or tell

    When showing gives readers a stronger experience, and when telling simply gets the job done.

  • Details that earn it

    What makes a detail useful, and why specific doesn’t automatically mean useful.

  • Who’s looking

    Description through a particular character’s eyes, and the problem with the floating camera.

  • AI, honestly

    Use AI to question your descriptive choices, not to describe everything for you.

Look inside

  • The page on emotion and physical symptoms: why behavior can reveal more than a clenched jaw.
    Stop Making Everyone Clench Their Jaw
  • The page on choosing details: the jobs a detail can do, and why specific doesn’t automatically mean useful.
    What Makes a Detail Useful?
  • The point-of-view page: characters notice what matters to them, and description isn’t limited to what you can see.
    Description Depends on Who’s Looking
  • The page on telling: not every moment deserves a scene, and directness can have power.
    Sometimes Just Tell Us
  • The AI page: using AI to question your descriptive choices, with a second question to try.
    Don’t Let AI Describe Everything for You
  • The one-page cheat sheet: when to show, when to tell, which details to choose, a five-question detail audit and a check before you turn it in.
    The Show Me Something Cheat Sheet

Inside the guide

  • What showing actually does, and when telling is the better choice
  • Why not every emotion needs a clenched jaw
  • Six jobs a detail can do, and how to tell whether it’s earned its place
  • Description through a particular character’s eyes
  • The floating camera, and how to fix it
  • When to summarize, and when to skip the boring part
  • The same moment written three ways
  • Revising description without cutting out the personality
  • Using AI to question your choices
  • The Show Me Something Cheat Sheet, one page to bring to class
  • Printable PDF, 18 pages

Purchase includes one printable PDF. It’s a guide, not a fillable workbook: the exercises go in your notebook or writing app.

Download right after checkout, and we email you the links too — they work for 30 days. Lose them? Email [email protected] and we'll send more. Not what you expected? Reply to your receipt within 30 days and we'll refund it.