Chekhov's gun - how often should it be fired?

[MemoryTale]

For those unaware of the term(probably no-one on this forum), Chekhov's gun is an object that gets mentioned in passing, which then becomes important later on. For example if the writer draws the readers attention to an ornamental gun hanging on a wall, it will later be taken down and used.

So anyway, I've been re-reading one of my WIPs, and earlier chapters are filled with innocous little details that seem pointless at the time, but turn out to be important later.

Personally I'm quite happy with the effect, as it would definitely reward a second reading, but I'm interested in what others think. Do you like it when a book does that, or does it feel like you should be jotting down notes as you go along?

 

[Boneman]

You'd love me as a reader - all those little asides go right over my head on the first read, and I get a few more on the 2nd, and the 3rd, and so on. I do love those revealing moments (even if I slap my forehead and go "DOH!"), but I know of others who pore over every word, so they get the satisfaction of knowing it first. I don't see a problem, unless evry chapter has one or two, which might become tedious...

[I've just had to go back to Chapter 6 of my 'finished' wip to put one of Chekov's guns in the story, which will be relevant in Chapter 26!]

 

[Venusian Broon]

Like all storytelling techniques, if handled well it can make a great twist or reveal - it gives me the 'Aha, so that makes perfect sense' kinda feeling. But it can overstay it's welcome - I would probably only have one foreshadowing of a specific object per work.

Makes me think of Iain M. Banks 'Use of Weapons'. Someone (this was decades ago and not on this site) was complaining voraciously about the novel, saying he was struggling to finish it and 'what is all this about chairs and furniture - WTF is this to do about space opera'. Oh how we lol'd .

 

[Jo Zebedee]

[I've just had to go back to Chapter 6 of my 'finished' wip to put one of Chekov's guns in the story, which will be relevant in Chapter 26!]

Ha ha BM, just did the same myself today; realised a big one had fallen off in the edit. So at least once! I'm always suspicious when someone mentions something from chapters before suddenly; I kind of think, oh here we go what's this about?

 

[Freelancer]

It's good if almost everything you mention has a real reason, a true goal. But never force it on the reader (i.e. for out of nowhere solutions, where you use it to get a solution, just because it's been mentioned once somewhere in the past.). Also, sometimes it's good if you give time for the reader to forget it, then later you pull the reason out from your hat (In my trilogy for few details you must read Volume 3 to learn the true reason of some elements what you've read in Volume 1. For this I use double meanings. You get a seemingly interesting, but meaningless meaning in Volume 1 and then I reveal the true meaning in Volume 3 with some twists.).

 

[Mouse]

I like these little thingies too, reading them and writing them myself. I have a few in things I write.

Although recently my step mum read something I'd written and when I asked her if she got the significance of a 'bone container' I'd mentioned at the end of the book, she said she didn't. I offered to explain but she said she'd read it again and that she often missed bits on a first read.

 

[Brian G Turner]

It's usually important to foreshadow important information, one way or another, before it is used to major effect in the story. That way, the reader does not feel surprised to the point of being cheated. If your character has a death grip, he needs to use it sometime before he uses it to defeat the antagonist, otherwise it's going to look deus ex machina.

 

[Interference]

The essence of the Chekhov analogy is that it shouldn't be so obvious as to be the only notable thing on the stage. If you need a gun to be fired, then everyone should carry a gun, for example. Seeding plot points is part of your role as narrator of events and while you should be wary of populating your prose with pointless information, you should also be cautious, when it comes to dropping in the essentials, that the reader isn't distracted from everything else while s/he's waiting for that object or detail to be utilised.

TV is a great place to see how this is badly done on a regular basis

 

[The Ace]

It's 'Chekov's gun,' not, 'Chekov's Machinegun.'

Yes, it can be a useful device, and it's fun to include a couple of blanks as well (little asides that lead to nothing else), but it's a technique to drive the plot - not the plot itself.

A writer relying on these things to tell the story is going to put himself right in the smelly.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I'm right in there with Boneman -- I miss all of that the first time around, and have to go back and look sometimes when it becomes obvious. Lots of forehead slapping.

In fact, I can go one better on this -- the book I'm still working on writing actually took me by surprise when I read it through after not touching it for months. I actually edited out a couple of things that didn't seem right, while I was reading through, and then a couple pages later I had to go back and change it all back to the way it was because I discovered that I had a reason for it being that way. That's a lousy memory.

To answer the question, I do like those things in books -- I just don't keep notes along the way. Sometimes it makes me mad when there is a red herring that never pans out, but that's why they call it a mystery. When it's a mystery, that is. You can't leave out the red herrings, or it would all be way too obvious.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I miss it all the first time round of writing as well lol I find things like this naturally layer themselves in as a rewrite and edit. At the end of one of my stories someone gets shot and I've decided not to reveal who dunnit, but to place the reader in a good position to guess.

 

[hopewrites]

I didnt know those had a name, but I like them in stories. I have excellent reader recall so, though I never take notes, I often throw the clues together just before the big reveal. Classic example is when Mission Imposable came out, all my friends said "oh you will have to watch this several times to get it all, we wont spoil anything for you dont worry" and when they found the bible in the room I knew who the mole was and my friends wouldnt believe that I hadnt seen the movie before.
No idea how to write them in, or how many you should or shouldnt have, But I can say that as a reader I do get a little thrill of satisfaction when I can pick out that something mentioned in passing 100pages ago is now relevant and am half a step ahead of the other characters because I remembered it was there and can guess at its significance. For some reason I like it even more if my guess is just slightly off. "ah the vase is the key... NO The vase HAS the key, well I was close" kind of thing.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I also like foreshadowing things other than concrete objects - partly because I need to plan ahead quite diligently when I write novel length work, so by the time I start writing the first words I know more or less exactly where my characters are going to end up.

Hence, to take an example, if a character is going to die by drowning near the end then it's fun* to put in subtle foreshadowing such water-based metaphors and similies regarding the character. Perhaps even the character saying things like 'I don't like swimming much, I feel out of control and vulnerable' etc...

As ever too much of a good thing turns it into a negative of course.


* not fun for the character of course, but for me writing and the reader hopefully

 

[TheTomG]

So, this being an SF forum and all, surely I'm not the only one here who always thinks "But Chekov is one of the least likely of the crew to carry a gun!"

Anyway, sounds more like you have lots of little guns that fire, even if they fire all at once, which I think is fine - rather than having the one gun that fires again.... and again... and again.. which would not be so fine, I think.

Yes, such things are fun, is my opinion!

 

[AMB]

I don't know, Tom. Chekov does switch from navigation to tactical after the 5 year mission, so who knows what sort of projectile weapons he may or might not have fired?

I'm another one of those who doesn't catch foreshadowing the first time round. Gives me an excuse to read things again.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

So, I have an eg from my WIP; too much, too little?

About ch. 12 it's mentioned, briefly, that the protagonist can do impersonations of people

About ch. 22 there's a couple of scenes where he does it; one to mock the antagonist, one humourously.

about ch. 40 it turns out he can use the talent to overcome the voice recognition software of the enemy defences, thus setting up the end of the book.

What I tried to do was make it an ongoing character trait, but use it in situations where it's natural. so he's having a drink and a laugh with his friends and impersonates the guy they all dislike. Now, I'm worried. Sometimes I think reading threads on the Chrons is an excuse for me to scamper off, look at WIP, and worry....

 

[HareBrain]

Hard to know without reading it, but that might be too little. How good would an impersonator have to be to fool voice recognition software? (I'm not even sure if such software already exists -- if it doesn't, you can make up your own rules.) If the impersonator has to be very good, you might need to make more of it (memories or complaints of parents dragging him round to talent shows, etc).

 

[Jo Zebedee]

it's linked with a load of other mind powers he has, so hopefully this sets it up, that it's more than just a party trick.

 

[HareBrain]

Sounds fine then. Stop worrying and get on with it

 

[The Judge]

I'm a techno-illiterate, springs, but security based VRS would surely be based not on similarity of voice but... er... thingies within the voice... er... summat to do with frequencies and the way the vocal chords and whatevers vibrate -- and those are apparently (supposedly) as different as fingerprints. So you need to get over not just that he can impersonate but that he actually changes the shape of his larynx and can fool the machines which do the analyses.