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

Chekhov's gun, but it's just "useless" background info

+1
−0

We all know how Chekhov's gun works: in short, it's the "rule" that whatever is explicitly shown to the audience should be important later, otherwise you should get rid of it. Don't show us a gun if it doesn't get fired at some point.

I don't know if there is a specific name for what I have, but it's kinda like a Chekhov's gun, except it's in the background and not really important in the story that follows. Here's what I have, in my magic medieval setting:

The main protagonist meets an unusual looking woman on his journey, who says something about how her mother went missing a few years ago and nobody knows where she went. Understandably, this is an event that deeply traumatized this woman and shaped her actions in the present. The main protagonist sometime later is sent to a cursed place where a monster is lurking. This monster has a habit of turning anyone it sees into a statue. In the background, you see a figure of a woman who looks very similar to the woman the protagonist met earlier, implying that's her mother who went missing. However, he doesn't notice it and it has no bearing on the plot that follows, it's just a neat little background info that tells the audience what happened to that woman's mother.

Is there a name for this "trope"? It's not a Chekhov's gun, is it?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/41919. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

0 answers

Sign up to answer this question »