DZ-126: Secrets and Clues
Notas do episódio
Listen if you want to understand how hidden information drives character motivation and plot structure!
“Getting information puts your character in danger. And danger rewards your character with information." — One of three ideas we steal from game design in this episode. In this two part series, we talk about how secrets, clues and hidden information motivate characters and may (or may not) help you plot from a character perspective. Part One (this episode) looks at WAKE UP DEAD MAN; while Part Two looks at SIDE EFFECTS, and the pilot episode of SHRINKING.
The other two (related) ideas are:
- Landmark information (characters just have it), Secret (they know it's there, need to unlock it), and Hidden (invisible until they pay the cost)
- Narrative velocity — are characters pushed forward or are they pulled forward?
To that end, in this episode Stu, Chas and Mel start with the murder mystery (ostensibly the easier deep-dive): Rian Johnson’s WAKE UP DEAD MAN. But this is a complex film made even more complex by being a dual-protagonist film. Uhuh. Benoit Blanc is pulled through the story by his need to solve the case; Father Judd pushed through, against his will, to prove his innocence. Breaking down how that plays out — and why it matters for the kind of escalation each character can sustain — is the heart of the episode.
And inevitably we go on some tangents: pointers, plants, and underpinnings (from our Everything Everywhere All At Once episode) fair play in locked-room mysteries, Narrative POV (as always) and node-based plotting and what dungeon-crawl game design has to do with writing a web of clues.
As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.
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→ Read the transcript for this episode.
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"Information puts players in danger and danger rewards characters with information, right? That's kind of the loop with like thriller game design." — Stu Willis @ 00:05:40
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CHAPTERS
- 00:00:00 – Cold Open
- 00:00:18 – What do we mean by Secrets and Clues?
- 00:04:17 – › Landmark, hidden, and secret information defined
- 00:08:10 – › Narrative velocity as push and pull for characters
- 00:13:22 – WAKE UP DEAD MAN
- 00:17:56 – › Key learnings preview: push-pull and narrative velocity
- 00:32:33 – › Mapping character awareness of secrets through WAKE UP DEAD MAN
- 00:58:21 – › Distinguishing secrets, clues, and hidden information
- 01:13:17 – › Benoit Blanc's character arc and the choice of grace
- 01:22:50 – KEY LEARNINGS & WRAP UP
- 01:24:22 – › Character drives how secrets are hidden and revealed
- 01:25:34 – › Narrative velocity and escalating stakes reveal character
FILMS
- WAKE UP DEAD MAN (2025) — (w) Rian Johnson
SCRIPTS
- Study the script: WAKE UP DEAD MAN (2025) — Rian Johnson
LINKS
- Read: DIY & dragons: Landmark, Hidden, Secret
- Read: The Alexandrian » Advanced Node-Based Design
- Read: Ascii Dreams: The Quest for Quests (Part 1)
- Read: Ascii Dreams: The Quest for Quests (Part 2)
- Read: Mel's KNIVES OUT: A Rose by Any Other Name Would Not Clue Us In
EPISODES IN THE SECRETS AND CLUES SERIES
RELATED EPISODES
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We are @stuwillis, @mehlsbells and @chasffisher on Twitter. You can find @draft_zero and @_shotzero on Instagram and Twitter.
Full show notes at: https://draft-zero.com/2026/dz-126/
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