: Re: Is it okay to include world-building facts by "telling" instead of "showing"? I know we need to show and not tell, but is it still okay to sometimes tell instead of having to show it? For

In worldbuilding, telling almost always directly translates to: Info Dump.

Example. "Welcome to Vannaa, where humans are no longer the dominant species. In their place are vampires, werewolves, angels, demons, and a host of species and races that live so long that they call humans "blinkers"--if you blink, they've probably already died."

However. If you take a sassy character who's picking on a human in this world, and they say just that, you aren't info dumping, you are using worldbuilding data to show this character as a bit of a jerk, schoolyard bully, and probably not human. You are making dialogue work harder, in this way.

You can also get away with a lot of otherwise info-dump-y stuff if you frame it in a inner monologue--as in, making a character who would think about this stuff think about it. Think historians, think propaganda piece writers, think pro-slavery advocates (come on, enslaving them is bad? by the time I blink they're dead! it's not my fault decent law-abiding citizens are willing to pay good money for these things!)

One thing I did, and got away with as far as I can tell, is have a medical professional categorize the traits of an unconscious patient, showing just how she thinks (two mammary glands on the chest, hinting at 1-2 offspring per pregnancy), showing how the character looks without 'telling' it's an anthropomorphic rabbit, and stating that there's a reason she can't just look at her patient and tell it's a member of this race (because there are 400+ other races that look just like this one, meaning she can only say species).

If you are careful, and make your scenes work to not head to the cutting board (or chopping board), you can get away with a lot.

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: First, I have to ask you the most important question: If this is such a dilemma for you, why did you write this villain as a woman? You are literally in control of every aspect, why a

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: People might learn a simple constructed language when they are older which has a fixed set of rules. (Old enough, that it isn't a native language.) Together with rigid rules this should

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: What is the most effective way to transition from one paragraph to the next? I desire to know how to transition smoothly from one paragraph to another in the body text, but there are a number

: Re: Is it okay to include world-building facts by "telling" instead of "showing"? I know we need to show and not tell, but is it still okay to sometimes tell instead of having to show it? For

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: Identifying a commit A universal identifier for each commit is its SHA1 â€” a 40 digit hexadecimal number, like this one: 3e0b5fb09d70d0457d7e5ae7892504f6e1b45f33 This commit is from the Sphinx

: First, I have to ask you the most important question: If this is such a dilemma for you, why did you write this villain as a woman? You are literally in control of every aspect, why a

: People might learn a simple constructed language when they are older which has a fixed set of rules. (Old enough, that it isn't a native language.) Together with rigid rules this should

: What is the most effective way to transition from one paragraph to the next? I desire to know how to transition smoothly from one paragraph to another in the body text, but there are a number

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