From the course: The Foundations of Fiction

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Subtext (advanced)

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From the course: The Foundations of Fiction

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Subtext (advanced)

“

(uplifting music) - Oh, look, just one cookie left. - How did we eat them all? - I think because they were just so ridiculously delicious. But you should take the last one. - Are you sure? - Yeah. I insist. - Oh, well, thanks. (groans) - Oh, did you really want it? - No. Well, kind of. I mean it looked so good. - Why didn't you say? - I didn't want to sound greedy. - Well here, let's share it. - Okay. - Okay. - Thank you. - Did you notice in that whole cookie exchange how Jess said one thing but really meant another? - I said I didn't want the cookie, but I actually did. - Right. And it's not just Jess who sometimes says what she doesn't mean. We humans do it all the time. - And in fiction, we sometimes want to show our characters doing the exact same thing. - Great writers will often show characters saying one thing but meaning another. - And they do this because it actually reveals a lot about a character. - If Jess was a character in a book, we would know from our little cookie…

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