Ever use plants and payoffs in your writing? I’ll be honest and say I’ve never even thought about them–but I’m sure thinking about them now! After reading Craig Boyack’s excellent post on Story Empire, I realize I’ve missed some great opportunities, but I intend to be much more aware of these going forward. Do yourself a favor and check out Craig’s post. You’ll be glad you did! And then pass it along, if you would, so others can enjoy and learn, too. Thanks, and thanks to Craig for an eye-opening post! 🙂
Hi Gang. Craig with you once again. Since today isn’t a holiday, I feel no compulsion to make some kind of arbitrary holiday tie in. That can be almost scary.
Last night (Writing this days ahead) I spotted a great example of plants and payoffs. This is a frequent topic of writing blogs, but it could use a modern facelift. I think I have one.
The first Plants & Payoffs lesson most people get is about Chekhov’s Gun. It goes something like this, “If you show a gun in the first act, it needs to go off in the third act.” I’m sure I didn’t get it quite right, but you get the idea.
This plays into foreshadowing, in that your heroes aren’t pulling weapons out of thin air when they’re needed. The reader already knows the guns are present. Readers need to suspect the hero is genuine before he…
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The Write Stuff 
Marcia, I bet you’ve done it unintentionally. Read the previous book to the one you’re working on now. Nine times out of ten, you’ll find a breadcrumb (plant) to exploit in your WIP. 🙂
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Thanks for the tip, Sue. I’ll do just that. I do like to set up my next story, at least somewhat, though that’s not always quite the same thing. But I’m going to explore a bit more, and see what I’ve done AND what I can do going ahead. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, too! Always good to see you! 🙂
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I do enjoy Craig’s posts!
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