Writing Challenge | Fascinate Me Fiction | Passages Through Writing
What is a MacGuffin?
A reference to FMF’s new collaborative writing game
I began an explanation over what a MacGuffin is in FMF's first newsletter,
then I realized no, this is the entire point of Passages Through Writing:
a place to provide writing info and advice for FMF's wonderful writers! A MacGuffin is a plot device in film and literature. Usually, it takes the form of an object — like a stone or an important document — that moves the plot along.
Think the infinity stones/gauntlet in the MCU, the one ring in LOTR, or the golden fleece in the Jason and the Argonauts Greek myth.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to MacGuffins:
The Hitchcock MacGuffin
The term MacGuffin is most often associated with famed director Alfred Hitchcock. He insisted a MacGuffin was completely meaningless in and of itself and could be exchanged with any number of objects to create the same effect. Also, the characters often care more about the object than the audience does.
In Psycho, the money that the woman stole at the beginning of the movie was the MacGuffin. The woman cares about the money…
