The Literary Proof

Let's face it. Continuity gets the middle finger. There comes a time when the writer decides to screw up everything even if he should have just made a reboot.

Highlander comes to mind. How do aliens get involved when the title is Highlander? I could rant about Zeist all day, but the video below probably does it a lot better.

via spoonyexperiment.com

I propose a solution to fix all those continuity problems. It has already been proven to work on math. Yes, math.

That's right writing a proof. Anyone who doesn't want a huge pile of hate mail thrown at him by the mail man needs to use this. That's basically anyone who needs to make something good.

Tommy Wiseau, you are exempted. Your nonsensical script in that flower shop scene made my day. For the rest of you, unless you plan to make a movie, so bad that it's good, use the mathematical proof.

How does it work?

Well, if you never had geometry back in high school, you're lucky. I will explain how these proofs work...without mentioning the word 'triangle'.

In the mathematical proof above, we see that the left column shows what is happening. The right column tells us why.

Let's use a basic story.

1. John walked to the park.  | given

Given is used any time you don't need to explain anything. You can make your given as long as you want, but make sure to limit it to just one. We don't to see John suddenly fighting aliens unless we see aliens attacking first.

Everything else needs a reason to be there. Seriously.You can't just say, "Bob killed Joe" without giving us a reason. You can't just say, "Unicorns have taken over the world" without giving us a legitimate reason.

Other than given, all your reasons should come from the right column. Yes, all of it. If you are really paranoid of that single plothole, you have to give a reason. Every. Single. Time.

Example:

1. Jack is a rich asshole drug dealer. Mary is really poor, | given
2. Mary married Jack                                                    | statement 1
3. The police wants Jack in jail.                                      | statement 1

You get the idea.

Is this a time waster or a revelation? Sound off in the comments.