Episode 2: The Death of a Great Idea (or: How Good Writing is Killed)

*Assassin's Creed Spoilers*
I've got a massive bone to pick with Kristen Bell, the lead actress on CW's "Veronica Mars." Now, I'm a fan of the show, but let's get one thing clear: "Ms. Bell? A story is best when told in its entirety, not by skipping to its ending."

Let me explain; There is a video game coming out in the near future called "Assassin's Creed," which has the player taking on the role of an assassin during the Crusades. This game has an aspect of total freedom: You are given a target, and you can take them out whenever, wherever, and however you want. There is no magic, no anachronistic weaponry, nothing. It's a realistic game.

At first glance it looks kind of like the old "Thief" games, with bow and arrow/sword play as the main focus. There was sure to be a great story, but with a game like this, so long as the game play is executed properly, there really doesn't need to be that great of a story, just so long as its there.

I was looking forward to this game, much in the same way that I have looked forward to other games that are similar (Morrowind and Oblivion, for example) in the past. But along comes Kristen Bell to ruin it all.

In a recent interview, Kristen - who lends her voice to the game - let the cat out of the bag:

"It's actually really interesting to me. It's sort of based on the research that's sort of happening now, about the fact that your genes might be able to hold memory. And you could argue semantics and say it's instinct, but how does a baby bird know to eat a worm, as opposed to a cockroach, if its parents don't show it? And it's about this science company trying to, Matrix-style, go into peoples brains and find out an ancestor who used to be an assassin, and sort of locate who that person is."

There's more, but I won't spoil it all here (for purists that might not want to know), but lets say that, if what she said is true, a certain 1/4 of the game might have been spoiled for us, the gamers.

This really upsets me the most, not as a gamer, but as a writer. Someone came up with this idea, this "diving into 'memories' found within genes" to find assassins and other people from the past, and I think its a great idea, when used in this story. You would play a majority of the game knowing you were an assassin during the Crusades, then -WHAM! BAM!- you find out the truth, that its actually in the future.

Here is exactly what upsets me about this; all the hype for this game is about the assassin during the Crusades, all the stealth game play, all the realism and all the fun you'd have with it. What a surprise it would be, if we didn't know any of the information that Kristen Bell revealed, to find out all these science fiction stuff was going to be a part of the plot as well?

This happens more often than this once, though. Throughout recent history, big-name movies, television shows, books, and video games have had their large secrets revealed far too early, ruining events someone came up with.

Now, you could say "Well, I still paid for [insert medium of the media here], so I still enjoyed it!" And while this is true, examine it from the writer's perspective for a moment.

When I come up with a good idea, I usually share it with other people. They agree that its great and they'd like to see it fleshed out. Usually these ideas are short, bare-bones versions of full plots or stories, though, and after I've decided on what my great idea is, I now have to go back and do all the work.

This work includes: Coming up with all the characters, writing dialogue, presenting a believable world, coming up with a step-ladder of plot points to get to my great idea, and coming up with a suitable conclusion. Rest assured, this is tons of work.

After I'm done, I look back at it, relieved. I have presented a fantastic journey to my great idea for my reader to go on, and I can't wait for them to talk to me about it once they are finished. My breathtaking idea, the one that I banked the whole story on, will be read eventually, but first the reader must trudge through set up, back story, subplots, and, eventually, a point where they wouldn't expect my great idea to happen. Then it does.

This moment is key for writers. When you lead the reader (or viewer, depending on what you're writing for) and then betray all that they thought they knew about the world you created, or you destroy that world, or you complete that world with but a single plot point... If you can go against their preconceived ideas of what the "great idea that spawned the story" were, you have suceeded.

Tying this back to "Assassin's Creed," when Kristen Bell or anyone else reveals such a huge twist, it destroys all the hard work done by the writer(s) that had to struggle to fill in all the pages of plot and spoken words in a heartbeat. Sure, all that material is there, but now its just in the way of their great idea, not the buildup, the lead-into. By the time the player would get to the "great idea," the previous work would be meaningless. Chances are, they've been waiting the entire game to get to that "great idea" and, now that they're there... so what? All that will be remembered will be that moment, because the player was anticipating it too much. If they hadn't know, every great moment that preceded it would have left a much better mark upon their memories of the game. Now, just filler.

People like Kristen Bell need to learn when to keep their mouths shut, and she can join Kirsten "I'll reveal that the Spider-Man 3 bad guys are Sandman and Venom MONTHS before I should" Dunst in a room for lame spoilers and we can lock the door.

Just saying,
-Skyler