"Show, don't tell" is one of the most repeated pieces of writing advice — and one of the least explained. Told well, it just means: instead of naming an emotion or quality directly, give the reader the detail that lets them arrive at it themselves. Here's what that looks like in practice, and when telling is actually the better choice.
Telling states a conclusion. Showing gives the evidence and lets the reader reach the conclusion on their own — which tends to land harder, because the reader feels like they figured it out rather than being informed of it.
Anger, nervousness, joy, and grief all have physical tells — a clenched jaw, a foot tapping, a laugh that comes out too loud. Naming the tell instead of the emotion does double duty: it shows the feeling and adds a concrete, specific detail to the scene at the same time.
"He was arrogant" is a label. A line of dialogue where he interrupts someone mid-sentence to correct a minor detail does the same job without ever using the word "arrogant" — and it's more convincing, because the reader watched it happen rather than being told to believe it.
Words like "beautiful," "chaotic," or "exhausting" mean something different to every reader. "The kitchen counter was covered in three days of unopened mail and a coffee mug growing something green" tells the reader exactly what "chaotic" looks like in this specific case, instead of asking them to supply their own version.
You don't always need to state that a character is broke — a scene where they count out exact change for coffee and skip the tip communicates it without a single sentence of exposition. Trust the reader to connect a specific, well-chosen detail to the larger truth it implies.
"She walked quickly" tells. "She strode" or "she bolted" shows — and does it in fewer words. Whenever you catch yourself adding an adverb to prop up a weak verb ("said angrily," "walked slowly"), try swapping in a stronger verb that carries the meaning by itself.
Circle every adjective and emotion word describing a feeling or quality (angry, beautiful, boring, nervous). For the ones that matter most to the scene or argument, ask whether a specific detail or action could replace the label. You won't want to replace all of them — but the ones you do swap will usually be the strongest sentences on the page.