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Broadly, the first thing that pops to mind is a cascading series of events demonstrating the antagonist's power and the protagonist's weakness: Protagonist believes he or she has a solution. Tha...
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#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T01:58:11Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4082 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
Erik Robson
·
2019-12-08T01:58:11Z (almost 5 years ago)
Broadly, the first thing that pops to mind is a cascading series of events demonstrating the antagonist's power and the protagonist's weakness: 1. Protagonist believes he or she has a solution. That could be a method of escape, or a way to counter the antagonist, or some other plan that will move them toward resolution. Protagonist executes this plan. 2. Plan seems to be working until a critical point when it's revealed that the protagonist's "solution" was really the product of manipulation on the antagonist's part. We (and the protagonist) see that not only has ground been lost because of the time and energy wasted on the plan, but that the antagonist is thinking _n_ steps ahead of the protagonist. If possible, it should be a surprise to both the viewer/reader and the protagonist. When this sort of sequence is executed well, there's a wonderful sinking dread that sets in at the moment of realization. When executed poorly, it can feel predictable or contrived.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2011-09-28T18:25:17Z (about 13 years ago)
Original score: 3