{"id":630,"date":"2017-12-04T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/161.35.63.92\/index.php\/2017\/12\/04\/chekhovs-gun-using-story-details-strategically\/"},"modified":"2022-06-29T13:05:43","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T18:05:43","slug":"chekhovs-gun-using-story-details-strategically","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/draft2digital.com\/blog\/chekhovs-gun-using-story-details-strategically\/","title":{"rendered":"Chekhov’s Gun: Using Story Details Strategically"},"content":{"rendered":"

What did you have for breakfast on May 27th<\/sup>, 2015?<\/p>\n

This detail may just save your life.<\/p>\n

Or it could just be a random fact that you may or may not remember. Maybe you noted it somewhere, maybe you didn\u2019t. Maybe you have an eidetic memory for breakfast foods. That\u2019s a thing.<\/p>\n

Details like this are mundane, and often seem irrelevant. That is, unless knowing that information really would save your life\u2014or the life of your character. So the question becomes, when should you include mundane details in your story, and how do you use them effectively?<\/p>\n

Chekhov\u2019s Gun<\/h2>\n

That would be Anton Chekhov<\/a>, not Pavel Chekhov<\/a>. For Pavel, this section would be called \u201cChekhov\u2019s Phaser.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chekhov\u2019s gun is a dramatic principle that essentially ties in with the story-telling principle of foreshadowing. In a number of letters to colleagues and contemporaries, Chekov posited the idea that if you introduce an object or element in your story, and assign it some level of prominence, it needs to come into play elsewhere in the story. Chekhov also insisted that if a detail doesn\u2019t help to move the story forward, then it should go.<\/p>\n

In Chekhov\u2019s words:<\/p>\n

“Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. 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. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.”<\/p>\n

I first encountered this quote and the principle it espouses while sitting in a high school English class, alongside some of my friends. It immediately prompted us to proclaim \u201cshotgun!\u201d every time we spotted a foreshadowing object, incident, or other references in a TV show or film. We got so good at spotting these, in fact, we could eventually predict the ending of about 98% of the shows and films we watched. Or at the very least, we could describe in pretty accurate detail exactly how a foreshadowed moment would play out.<\/p>\n

Fun party games and movie spoilers aside, Chekhov\u2019s Gun gives us a pretty good rule of thumb for when to include details in our stories, mundane or otherwise:<\/p>\n

Ask yourself, \u201cWhen will I pay this off? What is the significance of my character having eggs Benedict for breakfast? How will this move the story forward or come into play later?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Storytelling, at its heart, is about the progression of change in your characters, for good or ill. But it\u2019s also about guidance and discovery. Our job, as writers, is to feed a bit of line to the reader, give them a trail to follow, and entice them to move along. Including some odd, incongruous fact about your character or the day she\u2019s having or the clothes he\u2019s wearing can be just the right tasty tidbit to keep things moving along. But you should only use it if there\u2019s a pay off, somewhere along the way.<\/p>\n

At least \u2026 most of the time.<\/p>\n

Red Herrings<\/h2>\n

In writing, a red herring is a false lead\u2014a bit of misinformation or an errant cue that is meant to send the reader off track, and distract from what\u2019s really happening in the story.<\/p>\n

In politics, this is known as politics.<\/p>\n

Red herrings in literature play a pretty important role in building suspense and moving the story forward, but they have to be done right. In fact, they have to be done with Chekhov\u2019s Gun hanging over your head, like a loaded Sword of Damocles\u2014a slight reversal, where introducing a detail needs to pay off later, but in the meantime it needs to effectively send the reader on a tangent.<\/p>\n

Using red herrings in your writing can be a great way to take the reader on a fun ride, with lots of unexpected twists and turns. But they require some finesse. Do these wrong, and you risk alienating your reader, infuriating and frustrating them because they feel \u201clied to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The balance of the red herring: We misdirect, but we never lie. <\/b><\/p>\n

In terms of mundane information in our stories, and drawing from the breakfast example above, a red herring (for breakfast?!?) might be the fact that we listed bacon and eggs among the items on our character\u2019s plate, as they sit at a breakfast table in a modest kitchen, with a view of the swing set in the back yard. If later in the story we reveal that the character is a die-hard vegan, the bacon and eggs are to cause some head scratching.<\/p>\n

The red herring, however, is the scene.<\/p>\n

For starters, we don\u2019t explicitly state that the characters is sitting at their<\/i> breakfast table, in their<\/i> kitchen,<\/i> looking out at the swing set in their<\/i> backyard. We don\u2019t even particularly iterate that the breakfast before them is their<\/i> breakfast. In fact, we might later reveal an even more chilling detail: Our point of view character has no children<\/i>. So who is that swingset for, anyway?<\/p>\n

If we don\u2019t reveal our character\u2019s veganism or childlessness until well into the story, then the reader starts with one impression of the character only to have it derailed (favorably and in a good way) later. That\u2019s a fun kind of upset expectation, and one that makes your story feel all the more real and intriguing. It adds layers of depth, creating strata for your story that the reader can excavate as they go.<\/p>\n

Once we start getting details that contradict what we think we know about this character, we really want to know what the character was up to, and why they were sitting so calmly in front of someone else\u2019s breakfast. And, maybe even more intriguing \u2026 where was the person who belonged to that breakfast in the first place?<\/p>\n

Curioser and curioser.<\/p>\n

Show Chekhov\u2019s Gun, Don\u2019t Tell<\/h2>\n

Maybe one of the most-given and yet most-misunderstood bits of writerly wisdom ever is \u201cshow, don\u2019t tell.\u201d In short, the idea is: Demonstrate the nature of your character by what he or she does, rather than describing their motives and intentions. <\/b><\/p>\n

Joe has recently become a nail biter who suffers from TMJ, and he regularly snaps at his co-workers.<\/p>\n

Linda makes a sour face any time a person of color enters her caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Joshua always take extra condiment packets whenever he leaves the restaurant, while Cindy always pays the bill.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know the specifics behind any of the above, but we know something\u2019s up. We have hints. And they may be hint enough for us to figure a few things out. We may intuitively learn something about the characters, their financial situations, their personality quirks, the fact that there\u2019s something stressful happening in their lives, all from what the writer shows us.<\/p>\n

For certain, the writer could tell us directly that Joe has recently gotten some bad news about his stock portfolio. Or that Linda was brutalized by a person of color, and struggles with a subconscious racism. Or that Joshua is paying off a mountain of legal bills after being sued for custody of his daughter, while Cindy is the pro-bono attorney who represents him.<\/p>\n

Those are the facts, and there may well be a place for them in your story. But not including the specifics, and instead hinting at them with action in the scene, gives the reader a chance to fill in the gaps on their own. This makes them more engaged with the story, and makes the story more engrossing and fun to read.<\/p>\n

By including a few mundane details\u2014nail biting, a facial expression, a few packets of condiments\u2014we can guide the story in whatever direction we want. But only if we use those details strategically.<\/p>\n

Move It Along<\/h2>\n

So the answer to \u201cwhen should I include a detail?\u201d really comes down to \u201cwill that detail help move the story forward?\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a rule in film making: If it doesn\u2019t move the story along, it\u2019s out.<\/b><\/p>\n

The same should be true in all of your writing and storytelling. The details\u2014even the mundane ones\u2014can be vital to your scene and your story, but only if you are using them as part of a strategy. Including mundane details can be an effective tool for both engaging your reader and setting the tone and voice of your story, if you think them through and use them smartly.<\/p>\n

In your current work, or your next work, consider a scene in terms of the details you\u2019re giving.<\/p>\n

How does each detail impact the energy and motion of that scene?<\/p>\n

For example, if you have a scene in a restaurant, you might consider a description of the table clothes: Does the color of the tablecloth add anything to the story? It could set the mood (\u201cthe table linens were intimidating in their crisp, clean whiteness, perfectly draped at each table\u201d), or it could foreshadow a future event or a detail to be revealed (\u201cthe red of the tablecloths seemed to him to be too dark, too deep, too much like large pools\u2014or seen from further back, like a splatter of dots across the restaurant\u2019s floor\u201d).<\/p>\n

The most mundane detail can become sinister or angelic, depending on its presentation and on the intention of the author.<\/p>\n

Take a look at the details you\u2019re including in your scenes, and weigh them against your intention for that scene. If they help, if they set up something for later or otherwise assist in the movement or setting or tone of the story, leave them in. If not, then it\u2019s time for a cut. Details are, always, the ammunition in Chekhov\u2019s Gun. Take careful aim, and your readers will fall in love with your work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What did you have for breakfast on May 27th, 2015? This detail may just save your life. Or it could just be a random fact that you may or may not remember. Maybe you noted it somewhere, maybe you didn\u2019t. Maybe you have an eidetic memory for breakfast foods. That\u2019s a thing. Details like this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[469],"tags":[164,163,161,162,165,160],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-author-how","tag-character","tag-characterization","tag-plot","tag-plotting","tag-writing-craft","tag-writing-style"],"yoast_head":"\nChekhov's Gun: Using Story Details Strategically - Draft2Digital | Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chekhov\u2019s gun is a dramatic principle that essentially ties in with the story-telling principle of foreshadowing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/draft2digital.com\/blog\/chekhovs-gun-using-story-details-strategically\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chekhov's Gun: Using Story Details Strategically - 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