Thoughts on when to 'show' and when to 'tell'...

I got to thinking about the personal emotions of the characters I was working with as I was writing on a very long scene for a WIP. I realized I had not put emotions in, in terms of the - ‘He cares for me,’ she thought, ‘How wonderful/awful/what am I going to do?’ – sense of showing what she felt internally about a potentially romantic situation/complication. To do so would have broken the flow of the action. A frown, a smile, a look of panic or worry says it all just as well for the moment. A long internal discourse is not needed at that point in time.

After all, when you think about it, how often in real life does a ‘bubble’ appear above someone’s head to indicate how they feel about something? Never. You get their feelings from how they act, what shows on their faces, what they say or do, or don’t say and do, in response to a given situation.

Now I’m not saying there aren’t times in a story when you need to show the internal thoughts and feelings of the protagonists. In one-on-one personal talks or interactions it is often necessary and I do put them in.

However when you’re in the middle of a scene that involves intense discussion, and/or action, between several characters, to break into it with one character’s thoughts about what going on, when words or visible responses will do it just as well is, to my way of thinking at least, counter-productive to the flow of the narrative.

            I’d be interested to hear how other people feel about this. 

            E.