I read an article recently that included the following lines:
The quotes are interesting from a storytelling perspective though.
We like to hear things that support what we already believe: the good guys win in the end.
We also like a simple solution to a complicated problem: the hero defeats the villain and saves the day.
Sure, it's a bit crude and inelegant, and there are plenty of exceptions, but I still think there's a lot of truth in the above. I also think it's something that can be put to good use in storytelling.
Later, the article says this:
This is also something that can be put to use in storytelling. There was a thread about foreshadowing here recently. Perhaps this is why we needn't worry too much about giving away too much information?
Let's say that in your story event A is going to happen, but it's meant to be a surprise. You don't want it to come out of the blue like some deus ex machina, but you also don't want to ruin the surprise and you're worried about foreshadowing.
What if you add in a possible event B, that your characters expect will happen? You might be able to influence the reader into also expecting that event B will occur. Then you can still include the foreshadowing for event A without worrying about spoiling the surprise. The reader will see the hints, but as they don't fit with their expectations they'll ignore them.
What are your thoughts on this?
The article itself was very political so I've modified the quote to bypass that bit.“Good rhetoric typically draws on things that people already have in their mind as part of the way the world is,” says <person>.
And we are, perhaps, drawn to ideas that help us interpret events as part of a clear, meaningful story.
“In these difficult things that have gray to them, like what causes <badness>—the presence of a magic bullet, the answer to it, the thing that makes it black and white, I think has an innate appeal,” says <person>.
The quotes are interesting from a storytelling perspective though.
We like to hear things that support what we already believe: the good guys win in the end.
We also like a simple solution to a complicated problem: the hero defeats the villain and saves the day.
Sure, it's a bit crude and inelegant, and there are plenty of exceptions, but I still think there's a lot of truth in the above. I also think it's something that can be put to good use in storytelling.
Later, the article says this:
Once a person starts to believe the stories, confirmation bias takes over, and they’ll remember facts that seem to support what they already believe, while ignoring information that doesn’t fit. These biases shape everyone’s actions, [...]
This is also something that can be put to use in storytelling. There was a thread about foreshadowing here recently. Perhaps this is why we needn't worry too much about giving away too much information?
Let's say that in your story event A is going to happen, but it's meant to be a surprise. You don't want it to come out of the blue like some deus ex machina, but you also don't want to ruin the surprise and you're worried about foreshadowing.
What if you add in a possible event B, that your characters expect will happen? You might be able to influence the reader into also expecting that event B will occur. Then you can still include the foreshadowing for event A without worrying about spoiling the surprise. The reader will see the hints, but as they don't fit with their expectations they'll ignore them.
What are your thoughts on this?