Photo by Joel Munizon Unsplash
If I tell you that I always bring my own pillow when I travel, even if I’m traveling on an airplane, that tells you something about me.
It gives you a picture of a middle-aged woman walking through an airport with a bed pillow tucked under her arm as her personal carryon item, without me having to describe that to you at all.
If I was a character in a novel, that would show you something about me.
It would show you that I can’t sleep without my own pillow. It would show you that I’ve got anxiety about traveling. That I am willing to be embarrassed in the name of comfort. That I’m willing to put my pillow in the same airport security bin that hundreds of people have put their shoes in.
In other words, that detail is outsized. It does more than it seems like it should.
That’s because it’s a show, not a tell.