Someone on Tiktok posted about how she discovered Chekhov's Gun and how useful it was in the writing process, and of course all of the comments are either people asking what Chekhov's Gun is or agreeing that it is useful, but not exactly stating what it is.
So I’ll do it!
Chekhov's Gun is a narrative phenomenon where a seemingly insignificant detail or object is introduced into the story, and only much later proves to be incredibly relevant to the plot. Anton Chekhov, the playwright who created this concept, had a pretty decent way of summing it all up; if you introduce a gun in the first act, it must be fired by the third. He believed that pretty much anything a reader brings to the audience's attention in a story has to amount to something useful in order to further plot or character development. If a character mentions a peanut allergy at the beginning of the movie, maybe have him fall into a giant peanut factory at the end of the story, a la 102 Dalmations (2000). An extreme example, but an example nevertheless.
In the name of honesty, I’ve been sitting in front of my computer trying to think of other examples I’ve seen in books for a good twenty minutes now, and I’m coming up completely empty. I’ve suddenly forgotten the plot of every book I’ve ever read except for a singular MHA fanfiction I read in high school that is, unfortunately, a perfect example, so that’s the one I’m going to go with.
(I’m acting like I’m ashamed but if I could go back I would do it all over again. This fanfiction was batshit and I loved every second of it.)
So in this fanfiction, we start the story with Character A and Character B (I WILL NOT specify what ship I was reading fanfiction about) as professional superheroes, discussing their plans for after work. They talk about what they’re going to eat for dinner. Character A kicks a rock on the sidewalk. Character B complains about the underwire in her bra being uncomfortable, and Character A tells her to keep that shit to herself. Then we move on.
After work, Character B is kidnapped and transported to a windowless, underground room (I think, it’s been a while since I’ve read this fanfiction and I cannot for the life of me find it online, so this is all coming straight from my memory). For days, Character A rallies to find her and Character B suffers, alone in this room, captive to a nasty villain who has some ability that produces a dog-whistle style tone that, once heard, forces a person to stay awake. Character B spends three, maybe four days in this underground prison, unable to sleep and slightly losing her mind because of it, before she thinks of a plan.
You see where this is going? I certainly didn’t, I can tell you that fucking much.
Remember that pesky underwire in Character B's bra? She pulls it out and proceeds to stab it into her ears, damaging her eardrums and deafening herself. She then can no longer hear the dog-whistle, and finally sleeps. Now, I’m not going to tell you that I know for certain whether or not this is logistically possible. What I am going to tell you is that it was cool as shit. I read this fanfiction a minimum of five years ago and I still think about it. That should tell you how cool it was.
Boom; Chekhov's Gun.
If the name Chekhov's Gun sounds familiar but the concept doesn’t, you may be thinking of Schrodinger’s Gun. In the words of Joe Vasicek, Schrodinger’s Gun is “what happens when Schrödinger’s cat gets hold of Chekhov’s gun.” Schrodinger’s Gun says that the audience only knows as much as the author chooses to tell them, and that backstory and worldbuilding can be changed as the story goes on. This tool is best used for choose-your-own-adventure type storytelling, like DnD or other RPGs, or authors of webcomics or Wattpad fanfictions which release every week and can be altered depending on what choices an audience favors. For non-RPG examples, think of the movie Clue (1985), which had three separate endings and audiences in theaters were randomly shown one of the three. Think of the many, many writers nowadays who throw time travel into the third season of a show without mentioning time travel as a possibility in the first two seasons.
Phenomena wise there’s also the somewhat similar Macguffin, which is an object or scene that works as a trigger, plowing the plot onwards. A Macguffin lacks the secrecy and surprise that Chekhov's Gun does, and the payoff is almost immediate. The comm chips in Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte is a Macguffin, which sets the main plot, trying to save the queens from their inevitable murder, into action. The locket in Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan is a Chekhov’s Gun, appearing at the beginning of the story and then returning at the very end to add depth and meaning to our main character. The maps the goonies find in the attic leading to treasure? Macguffin. The little boy at the beginning of The Incredibles (2004) turning out to be the villain at the end? Chekhov’s Gunman. It’s the same concept, only with a human being instead of an object.
Do you have to use it? No. There’s another very common narrative phenomenon authors love to use called the Red Herring, which is an intentional misdirect where the author brings the audience's attention to an object specifically for them to assume it’s important, only for it to end up being completely useless.
In A Spark in the Cinders by Jenny Elder Moke, Aralyn is told that there are three things that must be brought together to save her kingdom, and in the same breath, she is told that the “Protectors Blade” had been split into three pieces and hidden across the land, and she had to go find them. Naturally, Aralyn and the audience both assume the three pieces of the blade are the things that must be brought together, but the story ends with us all realizing that it hadn’t been the blade at all; it had been Aralyn, her step sister Ellarose, and her hot lesbian knight lover Vee coming together that would save the kingdom. It just so happens that what brings them together is the search for a sword that also coincidentally is in three pieces.
Red Herrings can be extremely useful and incredibly interesting, but even if you aren’t using one, you still don’t have to take Chekhov’s Gun into account. There is no one way to tell a story, first of all. If you want to mention objects or details that don’t amount to anything, that’s your prerogative. God knows I dragged myself through two full pages of what a hobbit hole isn’t, so I say do whatever you want if you like it. My rule is typically if it fleshes out something, a character, a scene, a setting, feel free to add it in! There’s a line here, of course, but I’m not going to try and tell you where that line is. It’s all subjective.
Chekhov’s Gun is intended for reader satisfaction. Readers love to find symbolism and metaphorical meaning in everything, so if you tell them that the curtains are blue, they’re going to wonder why the curtains are blue, who decided they were blue, and could that person be the Blue-Faced Killer? You get the idea. It’s good advice, but it’s worth noting that Chekhov wrote plays and short stories predominantly, and that is what he focuses his advice towards. It can be used for anything, sure, but it doesn’t have to be. When you're pressed for time, I imagine it makes much more sense to skip the curtains being blue. If it makes you feel better, Ernest Hemingway strongly disagreed with Chekhov’s Gun and loved putting insignificant details in his stories.
Again, it’s all subjective. Take it into consideration or don’t, I hope I’ve given you at least a better idea of what Chekhov’s Gun is, how it works, and how it can be utilized in your own writing. Good luck, and happy writing!
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