Show, Don't Tell.

Show, don't tell. I'm sure you've all heard it before, but what exactly does it mean? The writer should be able to communicate the story through action, words, thoughts, senses, and feelings rather than through the author's exposition, summary, and description. The goal is not to drown the readers in a mess of heavy-handed adjectives or say, "He did this. She did that. They were happy." But, rather to allow readers to experience the author's ideas by interpreting significant, well-chosen details from the text. Another example would be instead of saying, "It was early spring," you could say, "New buds were pushing through the frost, elongating towards the sun." Does that make sense? Showing, instead of telling enables writers to evoke genuine sensations upon the reader. 
Of course, there are some instances where telling can be useful, though a majority of the time, showing is a more effective method. 
Another great quote to demonstrate my point is by E.L. Doctorow;
"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation upon the reader--not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon."