The Perfect Sneak Attack. How do you do it

[Falcon]

is it all in the set up or the delivery? or both?

[ksk2]

Are you referring to plot, dialogue, jokes, gags, queries, pitches, submissions, what? A little context, please?

[Falcon]

In the story. Like if I just ambushed you out of nowhere.

[Hangfire 2]

You just did.

[hang em high]

This is my type of thread right here, don't have any clue what's going on, but who cares. . .

yeah, that's the ticket. . . chicken gumbo, stuffs good for ya after a tough night on the town. . .

hang em'

[TinaRM]

Sneak attack? Let's see....are you talking something violent? Or Sixth Sense type of shocker? Or just in general shock? I'm not sure I'm that great with this, but I'd say you'd have to have both.

Trying to think of an example....

Let's see....

Three middle/upperclass women who have been best friends since highschool, decide to get away from it all and take a vacation together. They have all been so busy with careers and parenthood that they haven't had a moment to themselves.

They head to some south pacific island and are having the time of their lives when...

1. Two of them are abducted (terrible things happen...this is where I would close my eyes/ears)...and the third is behind it all.

2. Three days into the trip, they each return to their own hotel rooms to find their husbands dead in their bathtubs...covered in ice...yeah...someone stole their kidneys....(urban legends at their best).

3.

I'm still thinking....anybody else?

Tina

[Bill Marquardt]

Tina - Does one of the ladies enjoy fava beans?

[TinaRM]

Hm, Bill - there's an idea!

:-)

[Bill Marquardt]

And don't forget the Chianti.

[ksk2]

Go to Drew's Script o' Rama (link provided at the homepage of this very site) and download Day of the Dead by Romero and also Sleepy Hollow. Ignore the zombies/undead motifs; they're just metaphors. Check out the action as it was described in the scripts. Scripts that led to movies that made money in both theatres AND video-rental. In other words, scripts that made money for the writers that scribbled them.

As Stan Lee would say, "Nuff-said".

[Cornell]

I'd say you'd have to have a good set-up before the delivery is made, otherwise you blow your delivery or maybe you have to have a good delivery that follows your set-up, otherwise you'd blow your set-up out of the water and the delivery means nothing! Gosh, Falcon, you're causing me to confuse myself! Now, which came first? The chicken or the egg?

Actually, I'd say you have to have both. :\

[Steve]

A good sneak attack is when your plot does a 180 degree turn and you never saw it coming but as soon as it happens you realize it was inevitable. It's all about laying in subtle clues that the viewer doesn't think about until the reveal happens. If you just suddenly do a big plot twist without laying in groundwork it will seem contrived.

[GirlinGray]

That was funny Hangfire. (In case you were wondering whether anyone got it -- wink.)

[hang em high]

You tip toe, carrying a vacuum and a rotary sander all plugged in and 'whaling', while screaming like you have a nail in your foot.

that's sneaking up on someone

hang em'

[Cornell]

hang em', where do you get this stuff? Pass me some of that Chicken Gumbo, please!!!!

[ksk2]

The "doctor" being revealed as an android (when push came to shove) was an excellent example of an unsuspected "lead-up" ending with a "broken-nose" punch-line.

Just felt like answering the question.

Good luck, kosk