Quantum Storytelling

As writers we spend a lot of time creating meaning. We create meaning in our characters, meaning in our fictional world. We try to create mythologies to explain aspects of our world, especially if writing sci-fi or fantasy. We try to create symbolism and depth wherever we can. Everything has to be meaningful, otherwise we don’t like to waste time thinking about it. But there’s something we’re missing when we do this…

Creating meaningful things isn’t the only way to go.

Sometimes meaningless things are important to a story.

Enter the concept of the one-off. A one-off is a disposable event or idea that you include in your story, and will only be used once. It is a novelty item. Some might refer to it as a ‘gimmick.’ It offers no long term value to your story, or even your intellectual property. So why bother thinking about it?

Let me use an example to illustrate why it’s important;

The big boulder that rolls after Indiana Jones at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It happens in the first ten minutes and is one of those things that people remember forever. It is used in pretty much every trailer or collage of different movie trailers. It is a hallmark scene for the Indiana Jones series. The most interesting part?

It’s disposable. It has no lasting meaning or value to the story or intellectual property. It is a throw-away, a disposable one-off. Not to mention the fact implausible.

There is no reason why the Hovito natives would spend thousands of hours, materials, and effort carving a huge, perfectly round boulder and the track it rolls upon, just to kill intruders to their sacred temple. The same might be said of the other traps Indiana Jones encounters, but the boulder is clearly the pinnacle, the Mother of All Over-Wrought Traps.

It has no use or place in the story in any meaningful way. It’s just there purely for entertainment. By that measure it doesn’t even qualify as a McGuffin. There is no connection between the huge rolling boulder and any other part of the story.

Yet it has become one of the most memorable moments in pop film history?

Perhaps we should all add a little dash of the disposable to our stories.