As an editor for Better Software magazine, I sometimes give authors the old fiction-writers' advice "show, don't tell". The writer Robert J. Sawyer has written a nice, short essay on it (though I think the first example overdoes it).

I particularly like this essay because it itself shows how the maxim applies to nonfiction writing. Sawyer begins with an introduction to the idea, sketching out the rule. Then he shows a series of negative and positive examples, presenting both and then offering commentary. He shows, then tells.

P.S. As always, I need writers for some department articles. They are:

• From the Front Line: a story of a (software development) problem you faced, what you did about it, and what you generalize from the experience. This is an especially good slot for novice writers. I enjoy helping such people, and I believe them when they say I do a good job of it.

• Bug Report: the story of some software failure. The prototypical Bug Report describes the failure and delves down into its root cause.

• Tool Look: your experience using some tool. This isn't a full-fledged tool evaluation. The idea is to pique the reader's interest in a tool you think useful.

The official timing for thenext open slot has a first draft due November 15, but I have someslack to slip that.