one of my least-favorite writing tropes is informing the reader about some character backstory by having one character tell the other character something he or she already knows. "bob, you're an elite sniper with over 200 confirmed kills. 14 tours. a silver star." - ThreadSky

mgerrydoyle.bsky.social • 13 days ago

one of my least-favorite writing tropes is informing the reader about some character backstory by having one character tell the other character something he or she already knows.

"bob, you're an elite sniper with over 200 confirmed kills. 14 tours. a silver star."

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effinvicta.bsky.social•13 days ago

"As you know, bob, you were born in Chicken Coop Acres, Indiana, in a bungalow with 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. You had two siblings and-"

dramabob.bsky.social•13 days ago

Wow, I feel seen here

whrwlfthrwlf85v.bsky.social•13 days ago

"Don't forget Bob, you may be a renegade hot shot that plays by his own rules & doesn't work well with others, but damn it, you know the chief's told you a thousand times that you're on a short leash or you're off the case."

roland00.bsky.social•13 days ago

sounds baby boomer ish

I am thinking Aaron Sorkin who lists off resumes, but I can also think the equivalent in other authors

roland00.bsky.social•13 days ago

I find it more fun when there is a greek chorus listing accomplishments, or the ghost of the noisy neighbor who knows all the backstories and gives you some gossip

in these ghost stories

braak.bsky.social•13 days ago

My old playwriting teacher referred to this as "As you know, Bob, I'm you're father."

pbump.com•13 days ago

OK but Gerry, you’re a veteran reporter. You’ve seen how these interactions occur in real life. And you have years of experience making exposition more subtle.

wendella.bsky.social•13 days ago

This should have been a chart!

krogerfoot.bsky.social•13 days ago

Before a long flight I bought a book by popular poster and renowned good guy and discovered that his writing is full of “quipped Bob sardonically”-type tags to let you know when a joke has been deployed

mgerrydoyle.bsky.social•13 days ago

yeah, when I write (and edit) I try to murder as many adverbs as possible

loffles.bsky.social•13 days ago

The ol' Basil Exposition

brunovelde.bsky.social•13 days ago

Thank you. TV shows do this a lot, and I get why but it's AWFUL

jakeyeston.bsky.social•13 days ago

Start at 1:40

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LnjhCvp1fVU

dramabob.bsky.social•13 days ago

That's 203 kills, to be precise, Gerry. I'm counting those hunting accidents *laughs, cracks beer*

smashednsinking.bsky.social•13 days ago

So like every recent Marvel movie script...

I used to hate when I was a kid and cartoons would just narrate out that shit and I was like "we're not that stupid! We can see!" But apparently maybe we're that stupid?

bilgeshakespier.bsky.social•13 days ago

Patrick O’Brien still the undisputed master of minimalist characterization

bilgeshakespier.bsky.social•13 days ago

sigmasavant.bsky.social•13 days ago

I'm beginning to think that this is why so many people resort to tautology.

artsvandelay.bsky.social•13 days ago

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AsYouKnow

petegain.es•13 days ago

I would never pick on submarine novelists specifically of course but there are so many of these in Hunt For Red October, and most of them are the characters' internal monologues. "Get ahold of yourself, Jack, you're a CIA analyst who once had a helicopter crash in Crete, and"

petegain.es•13 days ago

And the more I listened to the audiobook as falling asleep background noise the funnier I found all of them

mgerrydoyle.bsky.social•13 days ago

yeah, clancy is a classic example of a guy who knew how to tell a story but did not know how to write characters. just paper thin

petegain.es•13 days ago

I went back to HFRO with the intention of doing a full reread (or listen) of the series up to when it completely went off the rails and his storytelling ability degrades pretty quickly after the first couple books, in 2024 it was just too much cringe

petegain.es•13 days ago

Also in the early 80s he clearly just had learned the phrase "going ape" because there are at least ten instances of that phrase in HFRO

mgerrydoyle.bsky.social•13 days ago

yeah, I gave up on him after the one where an airliner is crashed into congress, leaving jack ryan as president

swolecialism.bsky.social•13 days ago

Reading the Bob Lee Swagger series again, huh

mgerrydoyle.bsky.social•13 days ago

haha, the name just came out of think air! but I do remember plowing through those books when I lived in florida, absolute brain candy

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