We were talking about descriptive narratives and you read the bio I wrote on Jackson and said (quoting from memory here) Whoa, are you writing a biography.
You said to show and not tell. Then you asked me if I read descriptive narratives and I answered no. I thought about my answer over the weekend and would like to amend my answer.
First, back to the show and not tell. Maybe I am an anomaly - but I would read a "tell" if it was written well. Margaret Mitchell in Gone With The Wind writes pages of tell interspersed with show when she is writing the biographies of Gerald and Ellen O'Hara. At fourteen, when I first read the book, I had no problem reading it. (In fact, it came in handy when I critiqued my prof's article for a journal and told him he was wrong on a Gerald fact. He didn't believe me, so he handed me a copy of GWTW and I found the quote in a few minutes)
So tell versus show is an argument that I see writer's having... but, for me, if the tell is well written and engaging, yes I will read it.
Where I will not read descriptive narrative is when it is describing something I cannot visualize. For example - as great as Lord of the Rings is - I get restless in Tolkein's detailed description of Middle Earth because I can't visualize where the Entwash is flowing. I have impatiently read paragraphs of room description down to the flowers on the damask wall covering because I really don't know what vermilion looks like without getting a paint swatch from Sherman Williams. Or the detail of dresses - where the flounces and ruffles are.
Tom Clancy's descriptions bore me because he seems to be showing off his knowledge. I have no clue what he is talking about when he just starts throwing weapon systems at me.
I am a person who enjoys a book. If it is good, I do not want it to end. So, if I am engrossed - tell and not show does not hinder me and neither does a lot of descriptive narratives as long as they are well written and I understand or can "see" what the author is trying to convey.
I think many if not most here will agree that the really important rule is that rules can be broken. Rules can be broken, you just have to be good enough to carry it off. Every rule they give you about writing can be broken in a certain situation.
That said, the rules define craftsmanship and excellence. So learn the rules, use them, and you’ll then be able to break them to good effect.
Thus, showing is better than telling, usually. But not always.
Present tense is better than past tense, usually. But not always.
“Blah blah blah,” she said is better than “Blah blah blah,” she breathed, usually. And so on.