overshowing

“Show, don’t tell,” they advise us.

And so we get the classic Tom Clancy filler character, who appears on the scene with the purpose of imparting one fragment of information to readers. We learn about him. His hopes, his dreams. His broken marriage and fraught relationship with his only child. The missing tip of his ring finger, and how that happened. Eventually, after musing along with him on whether he’ll ever see his wife again or reconcile with the child, he comes back around to the fragment of information, and he imparts it, and then this guy exits our lives forever.

So now what am I supposed to do with the mental guest room I had all made up for him? I put fresh baked cookies on the table and everything. Fuckin’ Clancy. Better not do that ag… aw, jeez, see, this is why I don’t read these anymore.