TIL 'show don't tell' can backfire hard if you take it too literally

Spent 6 hours rewriting a scene to show a character's grief through subtle actions instead of stating it, only to have my beta reader ask 'what was she feeling there?' Now I have to redo the whole thing and add a single line of internal thought. Has anyone else overcorrected on a writing rule and made things worse?

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dylan2652mo ago

Had this happen with a fight scene once. Spent 3 days making every punch and kick super detailed with the sounds and the sweat and all that. Beta reader goes "wait why are they fighting?" Had to go back and drop in one single line of dialogue where the guy says "you stole my truck" or whatever. Felt like i wasted a whole weekend but yeah sometimes you gotta just tell people what's going on.

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jason732mo ago

Three days for one line of setup, I feel that @dylan265.

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