Hey, @MuseZack Dealing with points in sequence (and synchronistically I just discussed this in another thread)...I think it's absolutely vital to work out the mythology and mysteries in advance but at the same time leave room to discover the story as you go. The example...
...I gave in the other thread is driving from LA to San Diego. You know where you're starting, and you know where you want to end up, but you leave yourself room to stop off in little towns along the way to explore things that you might not have anticipated or planned on...
...so the points you knew you wanted to hit before leaving LA are in writing terms the safety-line allowing you to venture out and discover the story, or let the story reveal itself to you. But certainly one should have answers to all the really big, crucial questions...
...Regarding point #2...that "the best shocking twist/reveal is the one the audience, because the story already works without it"...I think this is one of those yes/no situations. There's a line we have to walk between tipping our hand and blindsiding an audience in...
...such a way that it feels like we're just pulling it out of our ass at the last minute. Whatever that twist/reveal is, it still needs to feel organic to the story, which was moving toward this all along, *even if it wasn't*. In some ways, the bigger the reveal/twist...
...the more it still needs to feel consistent with the characters and the story. In B5, moving our warrior character G'Kar to a religious figure of peace was a *huge* transition, so it had to be even more judiciously set up in little touches along the way. I think GoT and...
...other shows get into trouble at the end when they feel they have to have a Big Ending and suddenly there aren't just surprises, those surprises are at odds with everything the characters have been since day one. A while back, I worked with a great showrunner named....
...David Moessinger, who drilled into me the importance of playing fair with the audience. Meaning that whatever big or twist ending is there at the end, the viewers can back up the episodes, watch them all over, and all the clues needed to see what was coming were...
...right there in plain view, they just didn't have all the data points needed to connect them until the last piece falls into position and suddenly it all lines up. And the only way this works -- going back to your original point -- is if the creative people in charge have...
...a really good sense of where the characters come from, who they are, where the story is going and what it all means in the end. Any other approach, I feel, leads to a flawed product and a really (and rightfully) pissed off audience. The homework *must* be done.
