Sta.sh
Chekhov's Gun is a way of using foreshadowing in writing. The principle is simple; "If you put something there, it has to contribute to the story in some way."
I may not be a plotting expert ( I suck at twisty plots, but I like to follow this principle as often as I can) but this is one rule a write must never forget, especially if you write fiction. To explain the concept of Chekhov's Gun, I'll use a commonly known example. The gun.
Let's assume Character 1 and Character 2 are having a gun fight in a mall that's about to blow up. Character 2 laughs and exclaims that he has hidden the explosives where Character 1 will never find them. Character 1 and Character 2 are both out of ammo, and there is a gun lying near a destroyed Wal-Mart. Similarly, there is a dagger wedged in a velvet casing in an antique shop. Character 1 and Character 2 rush for the gun and 1 kills 2, missing his target only once. This miss hits the dagger.
Was the dagger any use?
No it wasn't, as far as can be seen. Here you have broken away from Chekhov's rule. But have we really? Let's look at it again.
The dagger falls out of it's casing and topples to the ground. Character 1, in his triumph, does not know that the dagger was the disguised bomb. Beep beep BOOM. Character 1 dies.
So have we broken the rule?
We stuck to it. And rather deviously for such a poor example. The point here, dear writers, is this; when you write, write what relates to your story in some way. If Sam's Uncle played baseball and Sam plays basketball, how is it relevant? It isn't, so it must be excluded.
NB: This rule does have exceptions, but I only mention it because it will help keep your story linked and in sync more than if you add useless filler, anime fan-fiction be damned.
Thanks for reading. ~Shodai24
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