In stories, there’s this nifty thing called planting and payoff. Basically, a concept is introduced, we are reminded of it, and later is is used in a satisfying way – in other words, there’s payoff. Lindsay Ellis has a great video essay about how this is used in Mad Max and Folding Ideas has one that talks about how this is used poorly in Suicide Squad.
Today I’ll give a teeny tiny example from Nalo Hopkinson’s science fiction novel Midnight Robber.
Antonio has murdered a man and through various shenanigans ends up fleeing with his daughter, Tan-Tan, and self-exiling them to New Halfway Tree.
There, they encounter Chichibud, a native, who asks for something in return for taking them to the nearest village. A bottle of alcohol is introduced: “Worriedly, Antonio started searching his pockets again. Tan-Tan saw him ease a flask of rum part way out of his back pants pocket then put it back in. He patted his chest pocket, looked down at himself. ‘Here. What my shoes-them?’ He bent over and ran his fingers down the seam that would release his shoe from his foot.
“‘Foolish. Is a two-day hike.’”
Chichibud agrees to take them and they can pay him later. There are two glancing callbacks to the bottle, where Antonio insists he doesn’t have anything, suggesting how unwilling he is to part with his bottle or parlay with someone who he sees as inferior.
Later, after they’ve made camp and Chichibud is off in the bush, we get the reminder: “Antonio sighed and pulled out his flask of rum. He took a swig.”
And then the payoff. Antonio unwillingly takes the second watch that night. Tan-Tan wakes up and the fire (which is protecting them from various malicious beasts), is out. As she crawls out of the tent, “Her hand touched the empty rum flask.”
Not only is this a simple and clear example of planting and payoff, it works so well because it reveals several things about Antonio. The decision to drink himself to sleep reveals his disrespect for Chichibud, his inability to handle or understand his new surroundings, and his willingness to put himself and his daughter in danger. It’s also in this section where Tan-Tan begins to lose her respect for her father. To cement all this, they’re attacked by a monstrous bird and almost killed.
For additional punch, Chichibud finds and takes the bottle as payment in the morning. So if Antonio hadn’t be selfish and just given it to Chichibud first thing, none of this would have happened.