In a thought-provoking post over at Glimmer Train, Josh Weil talks about Chekhov’s rule: If you bring a gun into the story, then it must fire by the end.
Weil reverses it to produce a new insight: “If you’re going to fire a gun at the end, you’d better bring it in near the beginning.” He goes on to discuss how the emotions that will drive action need to be seeded early:
When a character does something (say, suddenly draws a gun out of his pants waist), that action must be supported by actions that have come before; the mentality that causes it needs to be developed before the action happens. Long before.
Also this month at Glimmer Train:
- Excuses, Pobrecita by Caro Beth Clark
- Worrying the Culture Toward Peace by Sabina Murray
I think the quote comes from Chekhov not Nabokov…then again.
Yes, my mistake! (Not Josh’s. He got it right.) Corrected.
You’re so right that symbols SHOULD take on double-duty to have more impact on our readers. Thanks for the reminder.
I actually find Weil’s rule more imperative than Chekhov’s: Firing out of every gun or cylinder that has been introduced also becomes very predictable. This advice was more useful during Chekhov’s time, when it might not have felt like every story had been told a billion times before. It’s a bit outdated today. However, bringing an item or a notion in without “seeding” it first is a big no-no. It will throw your readers off, because they will feel manipulated. After all, the items and actions of fiction should derive from that very same fiction, and not from the author… Read more »