Working on the steampunk script this weekend. While reviewing it I noticed there were too many stingers… or whatever you call those bits that go at the end of scenes that really underline the idea that “this is the end of the scene.” I didn’t do it on purpose, really, it just ended up that way.

Nate doesn’t like them. I don’t feel too much about them one way or the other, but when there’s a writing tic that I notice (“Hey, I’m doing X a lot!”), that’s a problem. There’s a line where style stops being cool and becomes mannered. The line, for me, is where an ordinary viewer starts to notice that you’re using a certain device (like Obama’s speechwriters overusing “Let me be clear”). People recognize patterns. When they recognize them enough to start expecting them… or start waiting for them… they’re out of the movie world. Now they’re playing a drinking game or something. Not good.