Believability - Video Game: Storytelling - page 101

One, it's never outright stated that the Falcon is next stop is the secret
Rebel base. We don't realize it until later on, and we only piece it together
gradually, as the ship first approaches Yavin, then its moon, and then finally
lands, allowing Leia to greet Commander Willard. So the time between
Leia saying they're being tracked and our realization that they've flown
straight to the Rebel base is significant. In fact, by the time we realize what
they're doing, they've already done it, and at that point the story is briskly
moving on. They don't give us time to stop and think about it.
Two, the interval between the two events (Leia saying she's convinced
they're being tracked and the Falcon is arrival at the Rebel base) is not
spent dwelling on the matter . Instead, a character scene—involving Luke's
and Han's potential rivalry over Leia's affections—is inserted in between
the two, causing an interesting and off-topic distraction.
Whether it was intentional or not, the insertion of these two elements
very effectively downplays the coincidence (as well as a significant case of
character inconsistency). The audience, distracted and manipulated,
doesn't notice how inadvisable Leia's action is. And the story doesn't miss
a beat as we quickly move toward the much-anticipated climax.
Will a tactic like this be enough to help you as a storyteller downplay a
known coincidence in your story? It depends on many factors, and can
only be judged by getting feedback from trusted, objective readers.
In the examples cited earlier from Jurassic Park and Spider-Man 3 , the
storytellers wanted to include a certain scene or sequence in their story.
But rather than doing the additional work of making these sequences fully
believable and free of jarring coincidence, they forced events to happen
the way they wanted. And when things feel forced, audiences may sense it
and detach from the experience.
The bottom line is, if there's an event in your story that contains a no-
ticeable coincidence, you have tools at your disposal that can allow you to
remove the coincidence or make it barely detectable. It just takes that ex-
tra effort.
The Element of Surprise
Given what we just covered regarding coincidences, you might be under
the impression that I believe everything in a story should be predictable,