Ass Pull/Analysis: Difference between revisions
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{{Analysis}}{{trope}}
Asspulls are bad because they make the reader stop and say something along the lines of, "Now hold on just a freakin' minute! Where the hell did ''that'' come from?" Even a ''small'' asspull can knock a reader so far out of the story that they won't want to go back into it. A ''big'' one will make them throw the story away and tell their friends not to read
Asspulls stem from an author's failure to properly anticipate his story's direction and needs. A good writer will know (at least in general terms) where he's going and what he requires when he gets
This is [[Chekov's Gun]] worked
If an author avoids an [[Ass Pull]] with sufficient skill, the reader will probably say something along the lines of "that's very cool". The author should strive for that reaction.
Toward this goal, the author needs to be aware of how his story is going to end, and make sure that all the pieces needed for that ending are visible in the story along the way. They don't all have to be ''obvious''
This is especially true
In all fairness, it ''is'' possible to write a large story without long-term planning. [[Charles Dickens]] did it almost all the time. He created his novels as serials, written and sold to newspapers one chapter at a time, and he had only the vaguest idea where they were going, if ''that'' much, when he started them. But those chapters were ''so'' dense in detail that he had literally hundreds of choices he could pick from when looking for something to turn into a plot point later, if/when he needed it. If the author is skilled enough and writes just as densely, he can pull it off. But a beginning writer probably shouldn't try it.
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(Text adapted from ''[http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/guide/fwg.txt A Fanfic Writer's Guide To Writing]'' by Robert M. Schroeck, with the permission of the author.)
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