There’s an old writing rule attributed to Chekhov: “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise, don’t put it there.”

This deals with foreshadowing, and the fact that all details, however small, are significant and should be integral parts of the story. This device is an essential part of good mystery writing, but also comes into play in other genres. In Dirty Dancing, Baby and Penny stoop down to help old Mrs. Schumacher when her purse spills, and several wallets fall out. Later on, when Johnny is accused of stealing a guest’s wallet, Baby recalls that Mrs. Schumacher had several in her purse, and in the end she and her husband are uncovered as pickpockets.

In Transformers, Sam is going to sell some seemingly worthless old glasses that belonged to his grandfather, when it turns out they hold the key to the location of the Allspark, the cause of the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons.

Other notable examples are the necklace in What Lies Beneath that eventually leads Claire to uncover the mystery of her husband’s involvement in his lover’s murder, or the rock hammer and Rita Hayworth poster in The Shawshank Redemption.

The main difference between a Chekhov’s Gun element and a MacGuffin is that the Chekhov’s Gun seems insignificant at first, and we later learn that it is very important, whereas a MacGuffin or Red Herring seems incredibly important, but we later learn that it is not.

A  MacGuffin is a person, incident or object that motivates the other characters. It is the thing everyone is searching for or talking about-the stolen jewelry, the mysterious contents of a case in Pulp Fiction and Ronin, the money Janet Leigh’s character steals in Psycho, Jack Sparrow’s compass in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The real story, however, lies in what the MacGuffin motivates the characters to do, it doesn’t matter, in the end, what the MacGuffin is.

Unlike MacGuffins, Red Herrings are meant to distract the audience and lead them in the wrong direction, diverting attention to the incorrect conclusion in a mystery or a crime drama. They are a sleight of hand that distracts from the real story, the right solution to the crime or a problem. The army of the Twelve Monkeys in Twelve Monkeys is a good example, as is Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Many critics feel that red herrings are overused and are becoming cliched attempts to impose plot twists on poorly written stories, but Red Herrings remain a necessary element of telling a story.

For more articles on screenwriting, visit www.WhyThisisGood.com

-Ginger Earle