show-vs-tell

name	show-vs-tell
description	Load when WriterAgent is drafting a high-emotional-tension scene or when reviewing a draft suspected of stating feelings directly. Use to convert "tell" conclusions to "show" through behavior, dialogue, body language. Skip for intentional summary, background exposition, or rapid pacing transitions.

Show vs Tell

Use this skill to decide when the reader should experience a feeling and when the narration should move quickly.

Show

Show through observable pressure:

• Behavior: what the character does instead of what they claim.
• Dialogue: what they avoid saying, repeat, or say too late.
• Body language: breath, stillness, movement, interruption, misdirected attention.
• Sensory focus: what the character notices under stress.

Use show for high-emotional-tension moments, reversals, betrayals, confessions, choices, and scenes where the reader needs to infer the truth.

Tell

Tell when compression is the point:

• Background exposition.
• Time jumps.
• Low-stakes transitions.
• Information the reader needs but should not linger inside.

Conversion Pattern

Replace a conclusion with evidence.

• Telling: "He was angry and left."
• Showing: "He pushed the chair back so hard it struck the wall, then walked out without looking at her."

Balance

Do not show everything. A scene made only of evidence can become slow or coy. Use telling to bridge, show to land.