How and when do you reveal that big secret in your story? All at once? Through smaller increments and surprises?
In his book, Your Screenplay Sucks, William M. Akers stresses the importance of placing the reveals at the right place. He uses an example provided by UCLA’s screenwriting programme head, William Froug, about an old man feeding pigeons from a park bench. Should the old man dump the whole bag of crumbs on the grass right away, or scatter a few at a time to keep the pigeons interested longer?
“Placing a big reveal later on in the story, and hinting at it by sprinkling breadcrumbs earlier, is the better option.”
The book upon which the film Notes From a Scandal is based starts with a big scene in which it is revealed that the Cate Blanchett character has had an affair with one of her students. The book handles this information as the inciting incident. It’s a heck of a start to the story, but it does give away the biggest secret right away. The film version handles this differently, revealing the news a little later. It keeps the audience on a string and loads up the reveal with more punch.
In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, screenwriter, William Goldman, saves the small surprise that Butch is from New Jersey until the movie is well under way. He later offers an even bigger reveal when the men are about to hit the payroll guards in Bolivia. During the face-off with a bunch of rough-looking bandits, Butch tells Sundance that he’s never shot anyone before. It’s not a good time to let your partner-in-crime know about your lack of experience, but it is a hugely impactful moment for the audience.
Imagine, if you will, if Goldman had started the story by having Butch introduce himself to Sundance with, ”Hi there. My name’s Robert Leroy Parker. I’m really from New Jersey. I’ve never shot anyone in my life before!”
That would be pretty lame, right? Luckily, the screenwriter knew better!
Summary
Withholding crucial information for as long as possible, and releasing it as a well-structured reveal at a dramatically heightened moment, makes for keener audience interest and improves the quality of your story.
Invitation
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What an interesting read. I enjoyed the metaphor use of the old man feeding pigeons from a park bench to explain. The big reveal. It’s like a leaving behind a trail of candy that leads to either trap set up by a child snatcher or a mobile candy truck that crushed into a tree. Either way it leads to a situation that slowly or quickly escalates causing the stake to be raised. Every crime drama benefits from this recipe . But as a writer you have the power – do you have a big reveal at the very beginning of your story ( where only the viewer and the antagonists knows about this critical information ) or do you leave your big reveal at the very end of story ( Where the antagonist reveals his information to the hero and viewer at the same time)
In short : Your big reveal must be either at the very beginning or at the very end of the narrative.
Glad you found the article useful, Gerhard.