Sci-Fi McGuffins
The McGuffin seems to be a focal point for a lot of sci-fi. Even where it isn’t, you could view a lot of sci-fi concepts as a mcguffin in itself. Some sci-fi examples of mcguffins: Delorean in Back to the Future, sports almanac in Back to the Future II, explosive doppleganger in Imposter. For sci-fi stories it seems the mcguffin can be a person or technology. Can a mcguffin be a concept?
I have a McGuffin in my sci-fi story for NaNoWriMo. It’s a McGuffin I’ve given quite a bit of thought, based in a longstanding fantasy of mine.
My McGuffin is a very powerful device created by one party and being sought after by several others. It involves a bit of corporate conspiracy and espionage.
One of the fun tangents is the corporate espionage involves characters and corporations from my main quantum story. It takes place before my main quantum story, so it should provide an interesting history.
As for the McGuffin? It will not be featured in the main Quantum story although I may plant references to it.
Do you like McGuffins? Are you using them?
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October 28th, 2005 at 12:27 pm
Hahha.. wonderful! I think I might have come across the terminology before but forgot about it, it’s a wonderful technique in my mind. Ronin, Pulp Fiction, the Hitchcock films mentioned… McGuffins, when used right, can another great wedge to drive more interesting character dynamics…
Even though it’s an extraordinarily every-day-item, the best friend’s wallet in the film Sideways ultimately functions as a McGuffin because of what it propels Paul Giamatti’s character to do.
October 28th, 2005 at 6:20 pm
I can’t say that I do, use McGuffins that is. I’m always very careful of red herrings and McGuffins seem to get close to being one, or can be close to become one if the writer isn’t careful. I think so anyways…
October 28th, 2005 at 6:31 pm
They can be red herrings (Maltese Falcon) but I don’t think they have to be. The wild goose chase to find “the elixir” as Chris Vogler calls it can be purposeful and have logical explanations and a story that also has a satisfying resolution.
October 28th, 2005 at 9:23 pm
Now that I think of it, one of my plot points is a bit of a McGuffin. Not sure if it’ll turn out to be a true McGuffin or not because I still haven’t figured out how to end it.