Setup (storytelling)

A setup, in storytelling, is the introduction in a plot of an element that will be useful to the story only later, when the payoff comes.^[1][2]

Most of the important elements that are part of the setup are usually introduced during the exposition,^[3] with which it is sometimes confused. But there can be a setup within a specific scene late in the story, with a character, object or concept appearing only to be used paragraphs or seconds later.