Short and Sweet: Show versus Tell
Concise, bite sized, writing advice for the advanced writer.
The most important and hardest to internalize concept in writing is the very oft said: Show don’t tell.
Think of it this way: When you tell someone that you love them, how are they to believe you?
When you show someone you love them (through various acts and gestures of kindness, appreciation, love, etc.) you have already proved that you love them, so you don’t need to say it (but you should, of course).
Another way to think of it is the old sales adage:
People might trust what you tell them.
People are more likely to trust what a friend tells them.
People will always trust what they tell themselves.
Ergo, if you show your reader what a character is feeling or thinking…or you show the interactions of two or more characters…you are helping the reader tell themselves what the meaning of the written moment is.