Chekhov's gun

Chekhov's gun is the principle that a detail the story draws attention to should matter later, and that anything which never matters should be removed.

If the first act shows the reader a gun on the wall, someone should fire it before the end. If nobody is going to fire it, take it off the wall. That is Chekhov's gun, and the second half of the rule matters as much as the first.

Where it comes from

Anton Chekhov stated the idea more than once, in letters and in conversation rather than in an essay. In an 1889 letter to the writer Alexander Lazarev, he said a loaded rifle should not be put on the stage if no one intends to fire it, and that it is wrong to make promises you do not mean to keep. The better-known wording, a pistol hung on the wall in the first act that must be fired in the next, comes from a memoir of Chekhov by Ilia Gurliand, who recalled him saying it.

What it means in practice

The claim is not that everything in a story must be significant. Novels need weather and furniture. The claim is that emphasis is a promise. Give a detail a beat of its own, and the reader starts waiting for it.

So it is a rule about deletion as much as payoff. A story that lingers on the locked drawer, the strange scar or the name no one will say has told the reader to watch for it. If it never returns, the reader feels cheated, even if they cannot say why.

The positive version is setup and payoff: a resolution needs its materials on the table before it arrives, or it becomes a deus ex machina.

An example

Her grandfather had kept a revolver in the piano stool, under the hymn books. Nobody had opened the stool since the funeral.

A reader who meets that in chapter one will remember the piano stool. The writer now has two honest choices: someone opens it before the book ends, or the sentence comes out. Leaving it in and forgetting it is the only wrong answer.

Chekhov's gun vs a red herring

A red herring is a detail planted to mislead, usually in a mystery. It looks like Chekhov's gun, but it is fired in a different direction: it pays off when the reader realises they were misled. A broken Chekhov's gun is different. It was emphasised and then simply forgotten.

How to use it in revision

This is a revision tool, not a drafting one. Once the ending exists, work backwards:

• List what the climax uses. Every object, skill and fact it needs should have an earlier, quiet appearance.
• List what the early chapters emphasise. Every loaded detail that goes nowhere needs either a use or the cut.
• Check the weight. A detail that pays off in a small way should not be introduced as if it were the key to the whole book.

Frequently asked questions

What does Chekhov's gun mean?

It means that if a story makes a point of showing the reader something, such as a gun on the wall, that thing should be used before the end. If it is never going to be used, it should not be emphasised in the first place.

Does every detail in a story have to pay off?

No. Stories need ordinary texture, like weather, furniture and small talk. The rule applies to details the story emphasises, the ones given a moment of their own, because emphasis tells the reader to wait for them.

Is a red herring a broken Chekhov's gun?

Not if it is done on purpose. A red herring is a false lead planted to mislead, and it pays off when the reader realises they were misled. A broken Chekhov's gun is a detail that was emphasised and then simply forgotten.