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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/23840
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In a narrative I'm writing, the characters have to plan an escape from a facility. The thing is, they'll be doing the actual escape in the chapter following them planning. I know usually the right way to go is to show, not tell. But, **if I show the characters' planning processes during the hours they spend planning, won't it be redundant when the characters act out the plan in the following chapter?**

I should mention that there are 7 main characters and they'd be planning throughout a dialogue that's supposed to be hours long. In a previous plan the characters made, I'd just said:

> "So, I had an idea for escaping," I begin, factoring Zuke and Kinnie not coming into the plan before I explain it. As I present my idea, the group seems to listen intently. After, they offer a few suggestions and add a few things. We spend the whole day, taking a break while the guards come in for meals, planning. Even though Kinnie and Zuke aren't escaping, they still had a big part. By the time the guards herd us back to our rooms, we were ready to put our plan into action the next group confinement day.

And, I used the following chapter to show the readers what the plan was, not tell them.

In the section I'm writing now, I already showed the protagonists thought process while she was figuring out what needed to be done, but all of the main characters will be planning how they're going to do it together. Example:

> Even if we did disable the cameras, there are definitely LE's patrolling on foot. I haven't seen any yet, but that doesn't mean they aren't in other corridors, or guarding the doors to other rooms in the building waiting to pounce at the first sign of trouble. I'm not sure my friends and I can handle another one on one confrontation with an LE.
> 
> And then, there's the whole ordeal of locating an exit. Who knows how many corridors will have to go through to find one. And, how do we tell the difference between an exit and a regular door if the exits are pass-code protected, too?
> 
> Additionally, if we do somehow get out of here, where could we go that the LEs won't be able to bring us back here?
> 
> So, I had a plan, well the beginnings of it, and now it just seems overly optimistic and impractical. The others helped a lot with the last plan we made, that I had come up with the idea for, but all that did was lead us here. Maybe Kinnie's right, maybe this is impossible.

So, I showed the protagonist planning without revealing what exactly they're going to do.

Original score: 8