The Opposite of Cardinal Sin #1

I think many of us who make comics or write stories or are interested in writing can agree that mistake number one in writing is to front-load a story with a long-winded backstory. We've talked about it here on the site plenty of times.

There is an opposite mistake that can be just as damaging - you could call it "Hiding the Ball".

It's when the plot is built around a secret, or a question, or a hidden twist that the creator or marketing team is trying to hide.

It can work, but if EVERYTHING is built upon this hidden answer, it had better be a REALLY good answer. And there needs to be something else going on in the story in the meantime.

This kind of mistake doesn't show up right on page one or minute one of a story, so it might not be as obvious right away.

- But it can actually show up even earlier than page one or minute one: it shows up in the marketing of the book, or movie, or comic.

If the advertising (whether that's commercials, or the blurb on your webcomic, or whatever) can't tell you enough about what the thing is about, it can be harder to interest people.

Funny enough, no big examples are coming to mind - I'm thinking of exceptions. Like the Matrix, which was marketed on a mystery ("What is the Matrix?"). Or the murky plots, or multiple or minimal plots in popular movies like Pulp Fiction or Napoleon Dynamite. I guess it CAN work. The big twists in The Sixth Sense, Usual Suspects, Seven, and Shawshank Redemption were cultural landmarks, but those movies all had more going on, to some degree, than just the impactful endings.

And the famous JJ Abrams "mystery box" approach certainly worked well enough to make JJ fabulously wealthy throughout various movies and TV shows - in my opinion, the revelation that the Mystery Box is often empty has torpedoed JJ's credibility as a filmmaker, for me at least. I would most likely avoid something with his name on it at this point. But that's beside the point.

The screenwriting book "Save the Cat Strikes Back" mentions 'Hiding the Ball' as a big mistake when pitching a screenplay.

Anyway, this was a bit rambly again. I'm gonna take my ball and go home now.

Have a great one! See you next time!

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