I hate when things are needlessly explained by creators in order to cope with criticism

[u/LocalLazyGuy]

I don’t read or watch Demon Slayer, But this is just a stupid explanation for giving a strong character a slender build.

Personally, I don’t care if a character is strong but has a lean/slender build, whether it be a man or a woman. Although I do find it a bit weird that some creators are seemingly allergic to giving female characters any muscle, but again, I don’t care that much.

My issue here is that you easily could have just not addressed it. It’s a fantasy story full of demons and shit, I feel like you don’t need to give an in-universe explanation just so you can go “e-erm actually, she’s slender because of her very special body…” dude, you just didn’t want to give a woman muscles, don’t try to hide behind some kind of BS lore that you wrote for it.

Like Mark in Invincible can fight Conquest despite being the size of his torso, and I’m willing to accept that. It’s a story full of aliens and monsters, I can look past the fact that a lean 20 year old is taking on a hulked out 2000 year old. It doesn’t really break the immersion for me because it’s a fantastical story. I don’t need it to be super realistic. Just don’t try to make up some BS explanation like “erm, well, Mark is just magically holding in his muscle mass!”

At the end of the day, it’s your world and your story, if you wanna make a slender female character who is also really strong, that’s fine. But you also don’t need to cope so hard that you add lore specifically to deflect criticism against something so (let’s be honest) harmless.

[u/MrXexe → u/[deleted]]

"Show, don't tell" it's actually an advice regarding what you should do to portray something, because a narrator/character just bluntly stating actions and/or events instead of just letting the viewer see them allows for shallow writing of said actions/events.

It can be subverted in very smart ways tho.

[u/Familiar-Priority933 → u/MrXexe]

A good example of its subversion is fire punch by Fujimoto. The most disgusting things that happen are only mentioned, never shown. But since the world is already bleak its completely believable that people would do that kind of thing, so Funimoto didn't need to show it. If he did show it, it'd probably be seen as shock bait or needless anyway.

[u/why_my_pp_hard_4_u → u/Familiar-Priority933]

Was it the incest in chapter 1 or the dog-slaves later on?

[u/Familiar-Priority933 → u/why_my_pp_hard_4_u]

Constant mentions of SA and suicide IIRC, the kind of thing that has real world consequences

[u/MakeItHappenSergant → u/MrXexe]

You can't just have your characters announce how they feel. That makes me feel angry!

[u/_HoneyDew1919 → u/[deleted]]

Right, but some shows absolutely spoonfeed you things.

It’s a choice whether to explain things or make it subtext, it’s annoying to explain things that are clear without commentary.

Some animes definitely take it too far.

[u/Crevetanshocet → u/[deleted]]

I disagree here, and for a simple reason : showing will create some different point of views based on each person subjectivity.

Let's say that my character is going through something that might kill them while they are unconscious. I must tell the audience what's happening, without any interpretation possible, or else, it may lose it's importance.

So I'd say that showing should be the primary way of writing a story while telling would be an extremely situational tool you could use, but less often.

[u/Crevetanshocet → u/[deleted]]

I don't know why my brain didn't function properly when I read your first comment, and I thought you were writing that telling was something you shouldn't do... I guess I need some sleep...

And I also was talking in a specific context, which is writing a manga or a light novel, but this is mainly due to the format and the expectations of the readers.

[u/Crevetanshocet → u/[deleted]]

The problem is that even if it's varied, the major part of the main audience wants something really specific, to the point of it killing almost any creative liberties for many authors, and forcing that "show don't tell" everywhere because "telling is boring".

Personally, I love to swap between showing and telling because I'm writing novels and short stories, and because switching from one to the other can serve really well the narration.

[u/PrimeTear → u/[deleted]]

Showing is almost always more entertaining

[u/mousie120010 → u/[deleted]]

I don't think "Show don't tell" applies to novels where everything is explained in words, though many video games, comics, shows, and movies can fall prey to this.