Tweet of the Day: Three Secrets of Three-Dimensional Antagonist
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It slices, it dices, it manages your stock portfolio, arranges your wedding reception, and babysits your children.
It is the Magic Tool!
Real life multi-tools are nowhere as versatile as this trope. Its real power is how it helps the writer to extricate his story from every single plot dilemma the writer has ever written himself into. Are the characters stuck in a dark dank dungeon with no way of escape? The Magic Tool shines as bright as a torch (or if you prefer flashlight), can pick any lock, or blast through any wall. Need to deactivate a bomb seconds before detonation. No worries, the Magic Tool will analyze it for you, download the schematics, stop the timer a second or so before everything goes BOOM!
Of course, having such a plot busting device can drain the story of all tension so often writers have the characters conveniently forget that it is there, give it some arbitrary limitations (can not create food or bring the dead back to life, you know, the little things) or have it run out of batteries (remember kids, always recharge your phones).
It i a handy thing to have, all things considered, but can lead to abuse. Keep your enemies close and your Magic Tool in your pocket.
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