Template:Gazette58

Planning for DecaSystem Tech is continuing at a fairly steady pace. I'm planning this series more thoroughly than usual, and there are some things in particular I'm looking forward to creating.

Milky Way Race is also further along in production, albeit primarily in the art department. A promo short for the series was just released this week, so make sure to check that out.

I am so glad I decided to do the Re:Vise project because it means I can rewrite things to put personal issues like this to rest.

This has been one of the least eventful weeks on the wiki in recent memory pls help

Sometimes I wish I was still the happy generous person I used to be so people would like me more, but then I remember a lot of people just liked me because I was easy to take advantage of.

Lesson 13: Chekhov's Gun

Let's say you're watching a movie, and fairly early into the film, it pauses for a moment to focus on a cowboy flicking his nose in the background. You momentarily wonder what that was about but shrug it off as a shot that went on for too long or something.

When the third act arrives and all hope seems lost, the background character suddenly bursts into the scene, taking off his face-obscuring cowboy hat to reveal himself as Bruce Lee, who promptly kicks the villain's asses. You think this is a clear Deus Ex Machina for a moment, then remember that, oh yeah, the film built this up a little. So what is it, exactly?

What you have just borne witness to is known as a (admittedly not amazingly executed) Chekhov's Gun.

The origin of the phrase "Chekhov's Gun" comes from short story writer Anton Chekhov, who is famously quoted as saying "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."

While the original quote is more of a reference to Conservation of Detail, the term "Chekhov's Gun" has come to mean a seemingly insignificant plot element that plays a role in the story some time after it gets introduced. Done well, this can feel like satisfying payoff; done poorly, it can feel like either a borderline asspull or just lazy writing depending on how you screw it up.

A good Chekhov's Gun is introduced into the story fairly early on, isn't played up as having any sort of wider significance beyond its purpose in its own scene, but is still memorable enough for the audience to say "oh hey I remember that thing!".

A bad Chekov's Gun is usually done in one of two ways: either the introductory scene is too subtle, making it almost impossible for the audience to realize the element was actually introduced, or it's too blatant, practically yelling at the audience that "THIS THING WILL BE IMPORTANT LATER".

There are variations to the Chekhov's Gun, such as the Red Herring, which is a plot element specifically created to distract the audience from the real Chekhov's Gun, or the Brick Joke, which is essentially the Chekhov's Gun played for laughs. These variations can be screwed up in the same way as a normal Chekhov's Gun, so make sure to be just as careful while writing them.



Art Corner

Ken Tennyson (MWR)

By ChromastoneandTabby

Ken's design for Milky Way Race when he's not using the Spanner suit. He's 16 years old and has a new Omnitrix that he uses alongside the Spanner suit to defeat threats across time and space after being picked up as a protégé by Professor Paradox.

Nothing to report this week.

Well, that's it for this Sunday, folks. I hope you enjoyed the fifty-eighth issue of The CaT Gazette, and I'll see you next week! Feedback and support are appreciated!