![]() ![]() In other words, if in the first act you mention that your character has the power to move objects with her mind, but then she never does, you’ve created a setup without a payoff: you’ve left Chekhov’s Gun loaded on the table, unused, and the reader is going to be very disappointed. (But if you did it on purpose, you might have created a red herring, a legitimate literary device in the hands of a skilled writer-more on that later.) On the other hand, if you create a setup without a payoff, then you’ve probably just wasted the reader’s time. This cycle of tension and relief is key to writing that makes the reader want to keep reading. Every setup (in other words, every element in your story) should have a payoff (a larger part to play in the plot or climax).Ī setup creates dramatic tension, and a payoff relieves that tension. The basic principle behind Chekhov’s Gun is the concept of setups and payoffs. He’s famous for once having said, “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress.” Why does Chekhov’s Gun work? In fact, he’s considered by many to be one of the greatest short story writers in history. It was Anton Chekhov, a Russian playwright and author from the late 1800s, who coined the term “Chekhov’s Gun.” Though he was a medical doctor by trade, Chekhov wrote so many short stories and plays that his literary output is what gave him lasting fame. In other words, don’t draw attention to something of heightened importance if it doesn’t actually turn out to be important to the plot very soon. ![]() It could be anything of heightened importance, like a monologue (don’t include pointless ones), a character (don’t introduce characters who won’t be mentioned again), or even an entire scene (don’t include scenes if they don’t develop characters or advance the plot). The “gun” doesn’t have to be a literal object like a rifle hanging on the wall. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. It’s wrong to make promises you don’t mean to keep. One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn’t going to go off. The “gun” refers to how Anton Chekhov described the principle in letters to his friends and colleagues: Sometimes you’ll see it spelled “Chekov’s Gun”, without the h. If a writer mentions an element-like a gun on a table-then its purpose must be resolved by the last act, and a writer must never make “false promises” by mentioning elements that don’t affect the plot. Chekhov’s Gun is the principle that any element a writer introduces in a story must somehow advance the plot.
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