Show Don't Tell Episode 1... And now is where we get really controversial.

Yes, this is where we get really controversial. Because I’m going to suggest, that every good author out there tells. A lot.

 When showing not telling is done well, like Mr Chekhov, then of course it brings writing alive, makes it immediate. But it doesn't always work: particularly when the protagonists are involved in fast-moving, high octane action, it very often doesn't work at all. And you can tell these poor souls who’ve been on writing courses and had it drummed into them: “Show not tell, show not tell…” till they’re too petrified to tell the reader anything at all, and we’re left groping in the dark.
What just happened? Um... well, the protagonist seemed to get hurt – heard something –  saw something flash by – and her vision went  blurry, but, er...
Re-read. And re-read. And read on. And finally work it out… by which time, flow has been lost and you’re incredibly irritated. Why couldn’t you just say she got knocked on the head?
Because that author thinks they can’t. It’s not allowed. It’s – oh no – bad writing.
You can even go online now and find banks of “show not tell” phrases for demonstrating a character’s emotions. For instance:
 
“her eyes widened” = surprise
“he folded his arms and scowled” = angry
 
and so on and so on. I find that bizarre and yet curiously interesting. The point of show not tell, surely at least in part, is to make things immediate and fresh. If you need to lift phrases like the above from a word bank, you are immediately:

• deep into cliché, and not fresh at all
• possibly autistic. Who needs a checklist to make sure people’s eyes widen in surprise?