So in the vein of "What about the baby" I absolutely thought you'd wrap with "What about the sharks" because I'm interested in what happened there and was left hanging.
Spoiler: I survived. By the time we got to the surface, the sharks had left, so sort of a let-down of an ending. On the other hand, I'm alive, so it was a happy ending.
1) Bear at the Door - think about having a pressing danger in the scene. Make sure it is a big problem that is urgent. 2) Pick Up A Gun - what will it take for your character to pick up a gun. Push them to the edge. 3) Casting Shadows - If good things continue to happen, the reader knows bad things are about to happen. 4) Delayed Decoding - When you interpret something incorrectly, exposing what your character desires. 5) Callback - A joke that references earlier jokes. e.g. I must not tell lies in Harry Potter 6) Tonal Dissonance - Tone can be different than the topic e.g. Slaughterhouse 5, Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. 7) What About The Baby? - Follow up on important plots and answer them.
@@matthewluzitano But it can be. It's not necessary, but it can be a fun thing to link a lot of the book together into whole single unit if nothing else offers itself for the job. I think this one requires the ability to discern when using such a technique would be helpful and when it would be detrimental to the story.
A large shadow was cast over the window next to the front door of my house. I opened the door to find a huge fuzzy bear. I started petting it and rubbing my face on its face calling it fuzzy wuzzy. Always pet the bear. :)
As for Bear At The Door, I once found myself bored silly by a fantasy novel which had one BATD scene after another. It reminded me of a video game. I liken scenes to sentences in a paragraph. Variation makes for more interesting reading.
Great comment. I've found lots of writing advice that is similar to the BATD, basically focused on keeping the reader flipping pages by keeping things intense and urgent. Personally, I don't like every scene in a book dialed up to 10 (Giant Rune Bear knocking on the bathroom door while I'm taking a dump.) Still great advice, and good to think about what the protag is chasing and what the conflict will be in each scene, but most applicable if you love thrillers I think.
This was a really good one! Thanks! You can also invert casting a shadow. A story so dark and unforgiving that the reader thinks “surely something good must happen, right?” You tease the arriving light(good thing) like the glow of dawn in a horror story.
I wouldn't recommend using the bear at the door technique for EVERY scene. If every scene has a big, looming threat, you'll never give the reader a chance to breathe, and it'll either come off as stressful, or trying too hard. For example, in Harry Potter, the majority of the scenes are the trio attending classes, chatting, doing homework, or other things. The plot still advances, and interesting things still happen, but there's still a lot of peaceful and casual moments that make the tense, serious parts hit harder.Also, speaking of Harry Potter, the "I must not tell lies" part was only in the movie. It was really good though, and was one of the only things I think the movie did better than the book.
“Oh, you won't need ink,” said Professor Umbridge with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice. Harry placed the point of the quill on the paper and wrote: I must not tell lies. He let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink.
I agree-I think of it as the difference between a Poirot and a Luther (if those are things you happen to watch/read!) Poirot is never himself in danger, but there's a vague sense that if he doesn't solve the crime, someone else could get murdered. In Luther, almost every scene is bear-at-the-door, where either Luther himself, someone he loves, or a fellow police officer is in mortal danger. Those shows have very different tones, so I think it's about modulating the intensity to match the overall tone. And then there's some taste involved, too. Although I enjoy both, Poirot is a little slow for me and Luther can be exhausting. I'm curious to hear your perspective on this!
So true about the baby! There's been so many times when I watched a TV show (and I've noticed it more with TV shows) and they did not tie up a loose end and that's all I could think about!
The examples you give from literature are great, but I also really appreciate (and am appreciating as I read The Linchpin Writer) the personal experiences, too. It's easy to think of things like delayed decoding as a trick you can do as a writer, or a thing you can have your character do, rather than describing a real process humans go through. It goes along with the idea you showed in the recent Hemingway video where you're goal is to write people, not characters.
Bear at the door! Urgent! Pressing! Needs to be resolved right, NOW! Not knowing this tactics title I've used this technique. Especially in D&D Sci-fi fantasy. Thank You for educating me. Watching, listening, learning!
i don't usually watch commentary, but i'd recommend listening to it on venture brothers, season one, they go very deep into the art of call-backs and twists, as well as withholding desired information from audiences. doc and jackson are brilliant
Ha ha! You got me! Well, actually, when we went back up we didn't see them, so I guess the story doesn't have a crazy ending. But it was super weird to see sharks ABOVE me.
Hey can you please make a video on how to write characters and characters interactions? I am really struggling with this and you're the only person on UA-cam with advice that's actually useful and brilliant. Please help!
Subbed immediately after watching only one of your videos. Your videos are succinct, to the point, and you also talk at a very reasonable pace that I enjoy 😂 Not too slow. Looking forward to reading your books.
There is an amazing freshness and uniqueness in your podcasts that towers above the hundreds of good videos on writing. The only other podcast that reaches the peak of excellence is the Oxford wr bus ticket.. please keep doing your videos which will help some of us writers to come out of the shadows to make the world recognise our laidback brilliance.
Could you please go into deeper detail about delayed decoding? Particularly the part where you said that the decoding reveals what the characters wish would happen or would like to see happen. 6:03
for some reason this guy's girlfriend inexplicably attacks him out of the blue, throwing her full weight at him with all the force she could muster, knocking him off his feet. glass rains down around them from the window of the car they were about to get into, and one of their guards drops at their side, spurting blood from his chest... like that?
if you make it through the 5 book trilogy, it's hella nihilistic. spoiler: they all die, finally, for no real reason, and it's kinda hilarious, which might be the most nihilistic thing of all
You've made me think about where to replace Avon ladies with bears in my draft. Thank you! On a less important note, where can I find your cool t-shirt?
@@Bookfox I mean where the plot or scene specifically takes a turn that is unexpected. I was watching a scene in Peaky Blinders where Ada is on her way to abort her child and Tommy shows up, promises to marry her and refuses to leave town. In that short scene, several things happened that revealed character and changed the direction of the plot in surprising ways. That show does it often. I would like to understand how to do this successfully and what pitfalls to avoid. You have touched on it briefly, I am aware. Thank you.
i love your videos but please i see this problem in alot of videos i watch and its that flashing white between different cuts, it hurts my eyes, its unpleasant and its very very frequent in your videos. this is just my personal input but im watching this at 2am and i have to like cover my eyes and put my laptop n all the lowest light settings because its just very eye hurting. i value the information you have to give but spare my eyes please. have a great day
although, there were irl consequences i felt irresponsible neglecting, until 50 years of medical advances changed the equation and made it something i could address without it hijacking the whole story from that point forward
Sorry if I didn't make that clear -- he wanted to kill him because the attendant noticed he was coming from Dallas, which meant he could inform police or somebody else later.
What about the baby? ..................In my girlfriend's case it's What about the dog? I swear if our house was to catch fire she'd save the dog first
This is true guys, I've used them and now I'm sentenced to 5 years in jail.
3 years for me. Casting Shadows.
@@jeremyhofmann7034 Your lawyer must've "picked up a gun" in court, I barely escaped the 11 year sentence
Hahahahaha
Tell me about it, guess where I am writing this from.
So in the vein of "What about the baby" I absolutely thought you'd wrap with "What about the sharks" because I'm interested in what happened there and was left hanging.
Spoiler: I survived.
By the time we got to the surface, the sharks had left, so sort of a let-down of an ending. On the other hand, I'm alive, so it was a happy ending.
LOL love this. I also wanted to know about the sharks
1) Bear at the Door - think about having a pressing danger in the scene. Make sure it is a big problem that is urgent.
2) Pick Up A Gun - what will it take for your character to pick up a gun. Push them to the edge.
3) Casting Shadows - If good things continue to happen, the reader knows bad things are about to happen.
4) Delayed Decoding - When you interpret something incorrectly, exposing what your character desires.
5) Callback - A joke that references earlier jokes. e.g. I must not tell lies in Harry Potter
6) Tonal Dissonance - Tone can be different than the topic e.g. Slaughterhouse 5, Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy.
7) What About The Baby? - Follow up on important plots and answer them.
These notes are great! The only thing I'll add is that #5 is easy to see in a standup set, but it doesn't strictly need to be a joke in a book.
@@matthewluzitano But it can be. It's not necessary, but it can be a fun thing to link a lot of the book together into whole single unit if nothing else offers itself for the job. I think this one requires the ability to discern when using such a technique would be helpful and when it would be detrimental to the story.
A large shadow was cast over the window next to the front door of my house. I opened the door to find a huge fuzzy bear. I started petting it and rubbing my face on its face calling it fuzzy wuzzy. Always pet the bear. :)
As for Bear At The Door, I once found myself bored silly by a fantasy novel which had one BATD scene after another. It reminded me of a video game. I liken scenes to sentences in a paragraph. Variation makes for more interesting reading.
Great comment. I've found lots of writing advice that is similar to the BATD, basically focused on keeping the reader flipping pages by keeping things intense and urgent. Personally, I don't like every scene in a book dialed up to 10 (Giant Rune Bear knocking on the bathroom door while I'm taking a dump.) Still great advice, and good to think about what the protag is chasing and what the conflict will be in each scene, but most applicable if you love thrillers I think.
Everything may be overused.
This was a really good one! Thanks!
You can also invert casting a shadow. A story so dark and unforgiving that the reader thinks “surely something good must happen, right?”
You tease the arriving light(good thing) like the glow of dawn in a horror story.
Great point about the inverted shadow!
Really lucky that I found this channel, a true well summarized keys for clean writing.
I wouldn't recommend using the bear at the door technique for EVERY scene. If every scene has a big, looming threat, you'll never give the reader a chance to breathe, and it'll either come off as stressful, or trying too hard. For example, in Harry Potter, the majority of the scenes are the trio attending classes, chatting, doing homework, or other things. The plot still advances, and interesting things still happen, but there's still a lot of peaceful and casual moments that make the tense, serious parts hit harder.Also, speaking of Harry Potter, the "I must not tell lies" part was only in the movie. It was really good though, and was one of the only things I think the movie did better than the book.
Was it though? I could be wrong, but I clearly remember reading this scene in the book as well.
“Oh, you won't need ink,” said Professor Umbridge with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice. Harry placed the point of the quill on the paper and wrote: I must not tell lies. He let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink.
@@meridian6265 I mean the bit with the centaurs
I agree-I think of it as the difference between a Poirot and a Luther (if those are things you happen to watch/read!) Poirot is never himself in danger, but there's a vague sense that if he doesn't solve the crime, someone else could get murdered. In Luther, almost every scene is bear-at-the-door, where either Luther himself, someone he loves, or a fellow police officer is in mortal danger. Those shows have very different tones, so I think it's about modulating the intensity to match the overall tone. And then there's some taste involved, too. Although I enjoy both, Poirot is a little slow for me and Luther can be exhausting. I'm curious to hear your perspective on this!
Wow, I used bears, pick up a gun and casting shadows and had no idea they were called like that. And props for Eddie Izzard :D
These are very helpful and a couple of them put names to what I already do, which is also helpful.
Keep. Them. Coming.
So true about the baby! There's been so many times when I watched a TV show (and I've noticed it more with TV shows) and they did not tie up a loose end and that's all I could think about!
More cool techniques - Thanks!
The lightning bolt of books makes for a cool shirt.
The examples you give from literature are great, but I also really appreciate (and am appreciating as I read The Linchpin Writer) the personal experiences, too. It's easy to think of things like delayed decoding as a trick you can do as a writer, or a thing you can have your character do, rather than describing a real process humans go through. It goes along with the idea you showed in the recent Hemingway video where you're goal is to write people, not characters.
Bear at the door! Urgent! Pressing! Needs to be resolved right, NOW! Not knowing this tactics title I've used this technique. Especially in D&D Sci-fi fantasy. Thank You for educating me. Watching, listening, learning!
i don't usually watch commentary, but i'd recommend listening to it on venture brothers, season one, they go very deep into the art of call-backs and twists, as well as withholding desired information from audiences. doc and jackson are brilliant
How did you get out of that situation with the sharks?
I second that question... "what happened to the baby?"😜
Ha ha! You got me! Well, actually, when we went back up we didn't see them, so I guess the story doesn't have a crazy ending. But it was super weird to see sharks ABOVE me.
sushi
Hey can you please make a video on how to write characters and characters interactions? I am really struggling with this and you're the only person on UA-cam with advice that's actually useful and brilliant. Please help!
Finally, some on-point writing advice. This guy knows EXACTLY what he’s talking about!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed.
Love this. Thank you.
Insta-subscribe. Finally a writing tips video that is all practicality and zero platitudes.
Great, welcome to the channel!
Subbed immediately after watching only one of your videos. Your videos are succinct, to the point, and you also talk at a very reasonable pace that I enjoy 😂 Not too slow. Looking forward to reading your books.
Great stuff Fox, thank you.
what a beautiful day it is, dewey. surely nothing horrible will happen
Narrator: pick up a gun
Me: I choose violence
Yaaaay! I haven’t viewed it yet and I know it’s going to be 🔥
Interesting applying this to memoirs as it’s easy to get far afield as life surfaces from the crypts below
Great video as usual dude 👌🏻
Hats off for that Shaun of the Dead reference.
Love this channel
first! thanks for another amazing video!
i actually learned chekov's gun from the bush kid on tazmania, only it was a 16 ton weight, the funniest of all weights to drop on a character
There is an amazing freshness and uniqueness in your podcasts that towers above the hundreds of good videos on writing. The only other podcast that reaches the peak of excellence is the Oxford wr bus ticket.. please keep doing your videos which will help some of us writers to come out of the shadows to make the world recognise our laidback brilliance.
Glad you like them! I really try not to repeat other commonplace advice that you might have heard elsewhere. Always trying to be original!
love these!
so it goes
I went home early today and missed having this for my car entertainment.
Subscribed.
Could you please go into deeper detail about delayed decoding? Particularly the part where you said that the decoding reveals what the characters wish would happen or would like to see happen. 6:03
for some reason this guy's girlfriend inexplicably attacks him out of the blue, throwing her full weight at him with all the force she could muster, knocking him off his feet. glass rains down around them from the window of the car they were about to get into, and one of their guards drops at their side, spurting blood from his chest... like that?
that's just a description of the scene, not what i actually have written
if you make it through the 5 book trilogy, it's hella nihilistic. spoiler:
they all die, finally, for no real reason, and it's kinda hilarious, which might be the most nihilistic thing of all
Where'd you get that shirt?
Can i get more content about this thing??? 😢
taking notes rn, ready to be arrested
You've made me think about where to replace Avon ladies with bears in my draft. Thank you! On a less important note, where can I find your cool t-shirt?
I bought it a few years back and can't remember where! Sorry.
i reverse searched it for you and all i can find is a b&n notebook with the same design. wherever it's from has discontinued the line :(
How about bears who ARE Avon Ladies? Hmmm? You're welcome😮
Wait if it's a memoir the author just doesn't know what happened to the baby and there is no way of her knowing so why would we know :D
My only question
….
How did you survive the sharks???
Yes where can one get the twisted pencil shirt?
I bought it a few years back and -- don't hate me! -- I don't remember the website. :(
Do you want us to write novels for maximum compatibility with Hollywood screenplays?
I love your channel and book but you talk faster than an auctioneer 😂
Oxford writer that takes a bus ticket.
I'd like to request a video on subversions.
Could you be more specific?
@@Bookfox I mean where the plot or scene specifically takes a turn that is unexpected. I was watching a scene in Peaky Blinders where Ada is on her way to abort her child and Tommy shows up, promises to marry her and refuses to leave town. In that short scene, several things happened that revealed character and changed the direction of the plot in surprising ways. That show does it often. I would like to understand how to do this successfully and what pitfalls to avoid. You have touched on it briefly, I am aware. Thank you.
Hey so uh... What ever happened with that whole shark situation? 😅
I did not get eaten.
i love your videos but please i see this problem in alot of videos i watch and its that flashing white between different cuts, it hurts my eyes, its unpleasant and its very very frequent in your videos. this is just my personal input but im watching this at 2am and i have to like cover my eyes and put my laptop n all the lowest light settings because its just very eye hurting. i value the information you have to give but spare my eyes please. have a great day
well, ladies, why don't you tell me what happened to the baby? that isn't the story i wanted to tell, so why don't you?
although, there were irl consequences i felt irresponsible neglecting, until 50 years of medical advances changed the equation and made it something i could address without it hijacking the whole story from that point forward
Dope techniques. All made irrelevant with a solid plot structure, in my random-guy-on-tye-internet opinion!
Come on man! He didn't want to kill him because he was from Dallas! He wanted to kill him because he was making small talk! Read the subtext! 😅
Sorry if I didn't make that clear -- he wanted to kill him because the attendant noticed he was coming from Dallas, which meant he could inform police or somebody else later.
What about the baby? ..................In my girlfriend's case it's What about the dog? I swear if our house was to catch fire she'd save the dog first