#frustrating plot devices

[lornabassiswrites]

That failed confession scene

Another Thursday, another pet peeve. I will call this one the failed confession scene. Let’s set the scene for this infuriating plot device: character A has a secret. They’ve been doing something wrong, or they have noticed something they shouldn’t have – in a word, they are in possession of important information. Character B, often the main protagonist, also has something to say. Sometimes a…

That failed confession scene

[lornabassiswrites]

How I hate miscommunication

Starting off on pet peeves, I’ll begin with the biggest source of frustration for me in storytelling: when a whole plot relies on a misunderstanding, on people not double checking really suspicious information coming from untrustworthy people in the first place; when it would only take someone asking twice for the whole story to crumble.

In a world where we’re constantly being sent scams and phishing attempts, you’d think that everyone would know to always double check information that doesn’t come from a known reliable source – and even when it does, if it stills sounds odd and out of character, to check at the source or with a connected third party.

This is truly the biggest source of frustration for me in movies, series and novels. I will be tense and stay so until the misunderstanding is finally resolved, and though that’ll keep me watching / reading, I can already tell you the feelings it evokes within me are not positive. A taut rope on the verge of snapping every time the situation escalates because of miscommunication.

I suppose there’s a sort of strange satisfaction in that tension. Or, more precisely, in the way it’s finally resolved… Maybe I won’t be as radical as I was first going to be and won’t wish for this particular plot line to fully disappear; only for it to be a little more subtle and maybe add a reason for why the characters would trust or not double check the first thing they’re told.

Surely that’s reasonable, right?