On Setup, Suspense, and Certainty: Chekhov’s Gun Explained

The famous Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov once stated, “If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.“ He is also known for saying, “Remove everything that has no relevance to the story” and “It’s wrong to make promises you don’t mean to keep.” All together, these axioms make up the principle that is known as Chekhov’s Gun. Basically, it’s the beli