considering a MacGuffin

[marycatelli]

Ah, the delights of pondering what may, or may not, be a complete story idea in itself.  You never know until you try to develop it, and this one is kinda persistant.

But it needs a MacGuffin.

At any rate, at this stage it's a MacGuffin.  Properly developed, it might not be.  Certainly slapping a coat of paint on it and putting some detailing can cover up the fact.  And it's caught between the tension that the plot might dictate some of its details, but then again, inventing details might help mold the plot. . . the essence of working out a plot is boxing yourself in.  You just want to box yourself into a good location.

Ah, well, all I know now is that the MacGuffin is something magical that can, and will predicatably, cause a lot of trouble.  In the future.  Not now. 

I might make it a ring and call it a tribute to The Lord of Rings.  Or a gemstone, those are an old tradition too.

Comments

[stefan11.livejournal.com]

For a moment, in my naivete, I thought that MacGuffin may be something related to the author's goofing around (as in, I am just goofing an this is my gooding which show that I am a bit goofy person). Thanks goodness for wikipedia: "In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or maguffin) is a plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist (and sometimes the antagonist) is willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to pursue, protect or control, often with little or no narrative explanation as to why it is considered so important."

[marycatelli]

It's a useful bit of writerly jargon. The definition I see floating about is mostly "something the characters care about that the readers don't." And they have a lot of uses in fiction. . . .