#3 Cut away response
This happens the most often in visual mediums, like comics, TV shows and the like. Character A will reveal something to character B and before B can respond the story cuts away to later that day or a different scene entirely. This is not to be confused with pulling back to imply loud screaming or profanity. It is usually a way to cheat with time in the story, instead of wasting an extra minute and a half with the response the show moves on.
The reason this bothers me is when I run into this, and notice it big time. The reveal will be HUGE but the character never acts like they have been told. Imagine the scene in Harry Potter when Harry is told he is a wizard. Then instead of him saying "I'm a what?"the whole scene that follows the story is cut and we suddenly are watching Harry buy wizarding supplies. Bit of a cop out. For me half a story is how characters react to the things that are presented to them. Without emotion there is no story, so when a story cuts out a scene that would be nothing but emotion I get very peeved.
And like I said the fact they have been told something isn't really addressed. We as the audience knows they have been told, but the character never acts like they were. Imagine in fact that after Harry is told he was a wizard we cut straight to him living his day to day life again. Eventually he goes to Hogwarts, but he never acts like he has been told and goes about life as normal.
Compared to other things this is just a smaller pet peeve that won't ruin a whole story, but simply take me out of the story for a minute with how clunky the transition is. If a character receives news, and instead of showing us that characters reaction we cut to the same character running to tell a different character then that works. At least then we get to see a reaction to the news.
Solution:
If you reveal something to a character then have a reason to do so. Either show us what happens next, or don't have the reveal in the first place. At the very least if you have a character find something out off screen have the character act like they know. Knowing secrets can be a great source of conflict for a character, and can potentially up the stakes.
Compared to other things this is just a smaller pet peeve that won't ruin a whole story, but simply take me out of the story for a minute with how clunky the transition is. If a character receives news, and instead of showing us that characters reaction we cut to the same character running to tell a different character then that works. At least then we get to see a reaction to the news.
Solution:
If you reveal something to a character then have a reason to do so. Either show us what happens next, or don't have the reveal in the first place. At the very least if you have a character find something out off screen have the character act like they know. Knowing secrets can be a great source of conflict for a character, and can potentially up the stakes.
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