Yes, that’s right. No one will care - because you’re writing about what happened after that. While useful tools like a leftover diary would make it easy to learn what “The Before Times” were like, it’s easy to get heavy-handed with a world that no one will care about. You can see it in many stories that happen “ After The End”, or in the aftermath of that huge catastrophe that changed civilization as we know it. So, what’s the problem with this one? Well, it’s unnecessary in most cases. Whatever it was that happened in your story world’s history is obviously not so “great” if it killed all these people and left the world changed forever, right? Have you ever watched a story that refers to “the before times”? A kid asks about how things “used to be” before the Great Flood, the Great Fire, the Great Divide, the Great War, or God forbid, the Great Plague. It goes by many names, most of them terrible. However, choosing to explain everything away with this trope feels cheap, and audiences agree: if you aren’t introducing the idea of questioning sanity and reality from the get-go, then the “It Was All Just A Dream” trope is not right for your story.Īh, the apocalypse. ![]() Now, that said, déjà vu is a great device when it’s employed intelligently, and the idea of a stalker romanticizing his approach is obvious story fuel. The Wizard of Oz is by far the most famous example, but if you’re emulating a movie that old, you’re not writing for a modern audience.Īnd yes, it’s considered a cop-out now to do the same thing: that’s why Donnie Darko is lazy (fight me) and why Swiss Army Man lacked a cathartic ending. ![]() What I’m talking about is this: When a story you’ve invested in turns out to not have been real the entire time. The question of reality as part of a movie’s integral argument can still make a strong story. With that in mind, let me lead you through some the worst ways to explain something to your audience! What we’re talking about is how these tropes can make your story less interesting and engaging, as well as why they should probably be avoided. There are financially successful films out there that are not well written (you know a few, I’m sure). Whether you know of a successful story that uses a bad explanatory trope is not the point. But just as there are good ways to give your audience all the right information, there are also methods that should be avoided.Įxplanatory tropes in TV and film are a given: you’re expecting to see an introduction to the world of the story, as well as devices like subtext, allegories, and allusions.įrom script to screen, these things will happen - but there are times when the device used to explain something beats the audience over the head, or even worse, insults their investment in the story. ![]() Some literary tropes can put a real damper on your storytelling.Īre you having trouble with exposition? As a writer, it’s not uncommon.
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