Evidence receipt / evaluation
Published · transcript-backedMatthew Dicks: evaluation
15 Dec 2023 Lenny's Podcast How to tell better stories | Matthew Dicks (Storyworthy)
“You build information into the audience's mind that will allow the surprise to land in an inevitable and yet surprising way. That is the best surprise you can offer someone.”
Source trail
Everything needed to verify it.
- Speaker
- Matthew Dicks
- Attribution
- Verified speaker
- Claim type
- evaluation
- Recorded
- 15 Dec 2023
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
Transcript context
…I was just listening to an interview with, I think his name is David Mamet, and he made this point that endings of books and movies always has to be both inevitable, and also complete surprise. Yes, both of those things. So inevitable means there has to be enough information placed earlier in the story so that when the surprise happens, the audience goes, "Yes." But also you have to be clever enough to plant that information in such a way that the audience doesn't see the surprise coming. You build information into the audience's mind that will allow the surprise to land in an inevitable and yet surprising way. That is the best surprise you can offer someone. Easier said than done.…
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