UNBREAKABLE
Most
writers set up a series of reveals that build steadily.
M. Night Shyamalan sets up his structure to play one
monster reveal. This reveal isn't just the biggest
reveal in the story so far. It is information that
is so powerful it changes everything that has come
before. It is like an earthquake underneath the world
the audience shares with the hero.
Most
writers do not use this technique because you have
to come up with a second alternative for how the events
of the world work and what they mean. You have to
be able to come up with a detailed reality with the
same apparent events as the first alternative, but
whose cause-and-effect connection is totally different.
Most
writers have tremendous difficulty coming up with
one cause-and-effect line. But in Sixth Sense Shyamalan
showed that if you can come up with two, you can blow
the audience away.
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