“Show, don’t tell!” is common advice for writers but there is no single manifestation of telling. Fiction Liner looks for a words and phrases that may have the potential to be converted to show instead of tell. These include,

• Intention to act in place of action. Consider the sentence “She reached out to grab the knife.” Was the knife actually taken? If this sentence is meant to convey action, rewording it will be bring the reader closer; it will be more immersive. (“She grabbed the knife.” or perhaps, “She reached out and grabbed the knife.")
• Filler phrases. Sentences starting with phrases such as “There was” and “There were” can often be reworded to remove these filler phrases.
• “Sound of　some noun”. Describing a sound will engage a reader more than just stating the source of the sound. Consider “the sound of my phone” versus “a high pitched ping from my phone”.
• Conveying immediacy. Words such as immediately, quickly and suddenly are often simply not needed or can be removed if the sentence is rewritten with a stronger verb.

Fiction Liner uses light blue dotted underlines to show words and phrases that might be candidates for more showing and less telling.

If you want to read more about show versus tell, we highly recommend Louise Harnby’s book on the subject.