We've all heard the old adage "show, don't tell."

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This is a phrase often lobbed at newbie writers, a pithy way to summarize a so-called fundamental truth of creative writing: that you must use sensory details, actions, and dialogue to immerse readers in a story rather than merely state the events or thought processes of characters verbatim. 

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Yet, things are rarely so black and white. In actuality, writing tends to have a healthy dose of both show and tell, depending on what the scene or work requires in any given moment.

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But what if we only picked one or the other?
 

What if we were all raw, exposed nerve or "just the facts, ma'am"? What if we challenged ourselves to be 100% intuitive or 100% cerebral, for one piece only?

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For Heart on Our Sleeves Press's fifth issue, we invite you to do just that. Give us a show--or tell it to us straight. What will it be then? Bleeding-heart sentiment or no-frills reporting?
 

The stage, as always, is yours to command.