*clears throat*

"Show, don't tell" is intended to address and prevent a few specific writing sins, especially ones common to inexperienced writers.

It is not, and was never intended to be, carved in stone as an immutable and unbreakable law of writing.

The reason there is backlash against it comes from people who don't actually understand the craft of writing and therefore teach "show, don't tell" without any nuance or understanding of WHY the rule exists, even to the point of trying to apply it in places where +

exposition is Good, Actually. There are a lot of people who do this, even ones who ought to know better.

Exposition is a valuable tool. "Telling" is sometimes very effective. Knowing when and how to apply "show, don't tell" and when it's okay to ignore it is not always easy; it comes with time and practice.

The rule is useful because beginning writers, in GENERAL, tend to err on the side of telling, not showing, in ways that make the writing flat and boring. Teaching this rule helps them break that habit and develop better skills. It's a good rule! It exists for a reason!

But there are no absolutes in writing. No unbreakable rules handed down by the writing gods. Writing instructors and others who don't understand that can do a lot of damage. If you have "show, don't tell" shoved down your throat with no nuance, yes, of course there's +

going to be backlash, because NEVER "telling" is just as bad as always doing so! The people who are calling it out as a bad rule and pointing out the many, many works that don't follow it are also correct! It's a very bad rule WHEN MISAPPLIED.

(And given the frequency with which it is misapplied, they are doing a valuable service by pushing back against it.)

Bottom line: all writing "rules" are only ever meant to be teaching tools. You follow them for a while because it helps you get better, but as you develop you will and SHOULD learn when and how to ignore them, because they were never going to apply to all situations or people.

(This thread brought to you by people subtweeting on my TL about something amusingly distracting that is NOT current events, whee!)