1/ finished rewatching Aliens brief note on writing: the only think more satisfying than a Checkov's gun getting fired is when the gun is put their in Act one and serves as a FOO, but the payoff in act three is when it's used as a BAR
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3/ "good thing I learned to use these back before I became a starship officer", but that would be ... pretty bad. so, yeah, it gets established in act 1 but HOW does it get established? in an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT CONTEXT it's part of Burke and the Company blackmailing her
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4/ "we won't reinstate your flight credentials unless you do XYZ" / "I won't" / "ok, then keep working down at the docks...that's good honest work" so we get the powerloader information but it does not SCREAM Checkhov's Gun...which is good unexpected payoffs > telegraphed ones
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5/ that's at the beginning of act 1. At the end of act 1 / at the beginning of act 2, we get two more pieces. The grunts are loading up the drop ship, and the sergeant casually says "close up this airlock right now", gesturing at the floor...and we see it closed.
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6/ There's a trap door in the floor. It's dangerous. How is this delivered? As an obvious Checkhov's gun? No, it's part of the sergeant displaying his competence and part of the military patter. So, again, we don't file it away as "OH, I BET THIS COMES BACK LATER".
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7/ Around the same time, the knife trick. Bishop cuts himself, we learn he's a synthetic. We know from the first movie that synthetics can still function to some degree even after suffering huge damage. Third Checkhov's gun. We've got meat, cheese, bread Time for a sandwich.
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8/ Now, for act 2 (the middle 60% of the movie, on the planet), we EXPLICITLY IGNORE every one of these threads. ...but in the last 5 minutes, we're back aboard the Sulaco, and the ingredients come together.
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9/ 1) Ripley gets in the powerloader 2) ...and drops the queen into the floor airlock... 3) ...and Newt is being swept towards said airlock and would go out, except Bishop is still functional, and grabs her. "Save the Dog!" is a screenwriting trope / piece of advice.
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10/ Three Checkhov guns come together to save the dog (Newt) in the last 90 seconds of the movie ... and every one of them was set up two hours earlier.pic.twitter.com/k3VDFks5Cn
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11/ I rant about how people are too easily satisfied with crappy fiction (both as readers and writers). I reference Gene Wolfe as what to aspire to, and Bad Science Fiction Author and his terrible "feather demon" writing (and $99 course in how to write as bad / fast as him!)
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12/ ...but quality doesn't imply lack of action, or artsy-fartsy Gene Wolfe word play. Gene Wolfe and Shakespeare aren't your bag? OK, fine, de gustibus. ...but, man, Aliens, Ghostbusters...there's a lot of GREAT writing out there. And it's accessible.
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13/ If you're a reader, don't tolerate being sold garbage. If you're a writer, don't allow yourself to generate it. Watch Aliens. Watch Ghostbusters. Analyze them. Strive to emulate them. Aim high.
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