Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Introducing a plot-critical hallucinogen partway through a mystery?

This is a sort of act related question. I have an important drug that causes the protagonist to encounter people and things he normally wouldn't, and it is the foundation of a convoluted plan by th...

2 answers  ·  posted 8y ago by T. Pennant‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:32:09Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/24358
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar T. Pennant‭ · 2019-12-08T05:32:09Z (about 5 years ago)
This is a sort of act related question. I have an important drug that causes the protagonist to encounter people and things he normally wouldn't, and it is the foundation of a convoluted plan by the antagonist. The drug is fantastical, causing others to experience what the protag hallucinates, essentially making it real as more and more people believe it is. Otherwise, the world is 'real life.'

Do I need to introduce the fantasy concepts in the first act outright, or is hinting at their existence sufficient? I want the reveal that he's been poisoned to come out of nowhere at the end of the story and turn it all around, but even suggesting such a drug could exist in acts 1 and 2 would instantly tip the audience off that the mystery isn't genuine.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2016-08-28T04:06:54Z (over 8 years ago)
Original score: 3