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Q&A How do I deliver a historical plot reveal?

The question you always have to ask about a reveal is, what is it paying off and how its it paying it off. The narrative technique you use should be appropriate to the type of payoff you are creati...

posted 4y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  edited 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

Answer
#2: Post edited by user avatar Mark Baker‭ · 2020-05-06T12:45:43Z (almost 4 years ago)
typos
  • The question you always have to ask about a reveal is, what is it paying off and how its it paying it off. The narrative technique you use should be appropriate to the type of payoff you are creating. Dramatizing the moment of the real may be absolutely necessary if the information pays off in terms of creating a key moment in the protagonists moral or psychological arc. On the other hand, dramatizing it could be tedious if all it is paying off is curiosity about what the information is.
  • A reveal is a tricky way to create a climax to a story because it depends on the reader getting to the emotional peak of the narrative without all the facts in hand, and then having the facts pay off the emotional tension that has been built up. That is tough. It is much easier to pay off an emotional arc with action than with facts, with choices rather than discoveries.
  • In fact, there is a real danger that the reveal will take all of the steam out of the emotional arc by undermining its premise or taking the sting out of the decision that drives the story to the point of peak emotion.
  • Information is not exciting or moving in itself. It is exciting or moving in how it creates, heighens, or resolves emotional tension. Narrative technique is not really about delivery. It is about set up. You can't use local narrative flourishes to whip up excitement that is not present in the storyline. Narrative technique is about bringing all the threads of a story together, to maintain the reader's in interest in the great story question: "What happens next?"
  • Your revel is going to work if it pays off a long-building emotional arc in a satisfying way. If it is an infodump that simply explains all the loose ends up to this point in the story, however, it is going to go off like a damp squib. It is the nature of the emotional arc that you are paying off (or heightening) that will dictate the appropriate expository method.
  • It is important to remember that pure expository dialogue is tedious. If you are dumping the information via dialogue, make sure there is something else going on in that dialogue, some other source of tension being created.
  • Finally, remember that you can get away will all sorts of outrageous plot developments provided that coincidences and sudden reveals are use to get the protagonist into trouble, but they should not be used to get them out of trouble.
  • The question you always have to ask about a reveal is, what is it paying off and how its it paying it off. The narrative technique you use should be appropriate to the type of payoff you are creating. Dramatizing the moment of the reveal may be absolutely necessary if the information pays off in terms of creating a key moment in the protagonist's moral or psychological arc. On the other hand, dramatizing it could be tedious if all it is paying off is curiosity about what the information is.
  • A reveal is a tricky way to create a climax to a story because it depends on the reader getting to the emotional peak of the narrative without all the facts in hand, and then having the facts pay off the emotional tension that has been built up. That is tough. It is much easier to pay off an emotional arc with action than with facts, with choices rather than discoveries.
  • In fact, there is a real danger that the reveal will take all of the steam out of the emotional arc by undermining its premise or taking the sting out of the decision that drives the story to the point of peak emotion.
  • Information is not exciting or moving in itself. It is exciting or moving in how it creates, heighens, or resolves emotional tension. Narrative technique is not really about delivery. It is about set up. You can't use local narrative flourishes to whip up excitement that is not present in the storyline. Narrative technique is about bringing all the threads of a story together, to maintain the reader's interest in the great story question: "What happens next?"
  • Your reveal is going to work if it pays off a long-building emotional arc in a satisfying way. If it is an infodump that simply explains all the loose ends up to this point in the story, however, it is going to go off like a damp squib. It is the nature of the emotional arc that you are paying off (or heightening) that will dictate the appropriate expository method.
  • It is important to remember that pure expository dialogue is tedious. If you are dumping the information via dialogue, make sure there is something else going on in that dialogue, some other source of tension being created.
  • Finally, remember that you can get away will all sorts of outrageous plot developments provided that coincidences and sudden reveals are used to get the protagonist into trouble, but they should not be used to get them out of trouble.
#1: Initial revision by user avatar Mark Baker‭ · 2020-05-06T02:38:57Z (almost 4 years ago)
The question you always have to ask about a reveal is, what is it paying off and how its it paying it off. The narrative technique you use should be appropriate to the type of payoff you are creating. Dramatizing the moment of the real may be absolutely necessary if the information pays off in terms of creating a key moment in the protagonists moral or psychological arc. On the other hand, dramatizing it could be tedious if all it is paying off is curiosity about what the information is.

A reveal is a tricky way to create a climax to a story because it depends on the reader getting to the emotional peak of the narrative without all the facts in hand, and then having the facts pay off the emotional tension that has been built up. That is tough. It is much easier to pay off an emotional arc with action than with facts, with choices rather than discoveries. 

In fact, there is a real danger that the reveal will take all of the steam out of the emotional arc by undermining its premise or taking the sting out of the decision that drives the story to the point of peak emotion. 

Information is not exciting or moving in itself. It is exciting or moving in how it creates, heighens, or resolves emotional tension. Narrative technique is not really about delivery. It is about set up. You can't use local narrative flourishes to whip up excitement that is not present in the storyline. Narrative technique is about bringing all the threads of a story together, to maintain the reader's in interest in the great story question: "What happens next?"

Your revel is going to work if it pays off a long-building emotional arc in a satisfying way. If it is an infodump that simply explains all the loose ends up to this point in the story, however, it is going to go off like a damp squib. It is the nature of the emotional arc that you are paying off (or heightening) that will dictate the appropriate expository method. 

It is important to remember that pure expository dialogue is tedious. If you are dumping the information via dialogue, make sure there is something else going on in that dialogue, some other source of tension being created. 

Finally, remember that you can get away will all sorts of outrageous plot developments provided that coincidences and sudden reveals are use to get the protagonist into trouble, but they should not be used to get them out of trouble.