: Re: How do I avoid tradeoffs with showing vs. telling? I learned early on (as most writers have) "show, don't tell," which I agree with for the most part. However, I've found many situations in

@Jessie137

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What you're describing isn't really a case of show vs. tell, it's active vs. passive voice.

Generally, passive voice is describing someone's reaction to something as opposed to the simply describing the thing itself and leaving the reaction to the reader's imagination. For example:

"A cough came from behind"

as opposed to:

"He heard a cough behind him"

I agree that ex. 3 is ambiguous and doesn't really describe the action as per what is happening now. Ex. 2 / 2b implies a someone, which is less intriguing and mysterious (also implies a safe situation).

Really, you always want to show the action itself where possible, because it builds that all-important sense of reader interest at what may come next and is more immediate.

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