Term For The Moment A Story Becomes Unbelievable

[Hom]

I've read this phrase in a recent issue of Fortean Times but can't remember what it is. Does anybody know?

 

[LymeswoldSnork]

Sounds like "jumping the shark", but that applies to a TV series rather than a story.

 

[James_H]

Sounds like "jumping the shark", but that applies to a TV series rather than a story.

'Jumping the shark' is right, and its usage has become more generalised to include other media and even real life events. The phrase comes from an infamous 'Happy Days' episode in which the Fonz jumps over a shark on water skis.

TV Tropes page.

 

[catseye]

There is also the good old 'over-egging the pudding', when a story is being told with such overdone detail and such stress on the aspects that the teller WANTS the reader to be enthralled with that it becomes incredible.

 

[Sgt Girth]

It probably doesn’t quite fit but “gilding the lily” is rather a quaint expression.

 

[TangletwigsDeux]

I like the phrase "Bollocks". Succint and too the point.

 

[Cochise]

I favour 'Jumping the Shark' because it gives that abruptness where you realize the plot have been lost. The other terms are fine, but are more gradual.

And I haven't even mentioned GoT.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I like the phrase "Bollocks". Succint and too the point.

….or perhaps:

 

[Cochise]

….or perhaps:

Horsefeathers is good. Courtesy the Marx Brothers.

 

[Yithian]

Generally: the tipping point.

Also a fantastic Tears For Fears song.

 

[Coal]

Generally: the tipping point.

Also a fantastic Tears For Fears song.

That's the point at which some part of my brain mutters to itself "Here we go..."

 

[Bigphoot2]

"That story's growing feet and legs" as my old gran used to say.

 

[EnolaGaia]

I guess it's the point at which you've been following the garden path of the storyteller's story and you sense the path has just entered the uncanny valley.

 

[Mythopoeika]

The penny drops?