...what I need to make them forget

One of Bil's comments that kind of surprised me yesterday was when he said "I need to remember what I need to make them (the audience) forget."  In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised so much, as Pat and I have often discussed the pleasure we get when Lepp (or Donald Davis, or Bill Harley, to name just a few others) "connects" something back to an earlier story – or even unexpectedly connects to something from earlier in the same story.  I have long recognized and admired that connectivity.  It just sort of ties things together.

What I hadn't appreciated was the deliberate effort to "make me forget" that thing - so it enhances my delight when it is recalled.  I supposed at first that he might just be careful not to remind me of it, but later realized that there are several potential ways to "make us forget" something.  Verbally or contextually downplay it in the beginning.  Package it between two much more interesting or immediate things, perhaps.  Or bring it up in one context, then change scenes so completely that the other thing is left behind in the other context.  Then bring it back unexpectedly.

In any case, I got a real kick out of "what I need to make them forget."  That's real story-crafting!