How should Thirty Xanatos Pileup examples be written?

Normally it's standard procedure to, when you add an example to a trope page, explain how the work in question used the trope. But with Thirty Xanatos Pileup it's pretty much impossible to do that without creating a massive wall of text; if it can be described succintly, it's probably not a Thirty Xanatos Pileup.

Which is more important to you? That the examples give you a good idea how the work used the trope, or keeping the examples short and sweet?

You really don't have to explain every single detail and every twist.

I think it would be enough if you just wrote something like: " Characters X Y And Z all manipulate each other to archive their own goal, with the result that something happens"

Me? Forgetting a whole word and thus subverting the meaning of the sentence? Unpossible!

edited 28th Sep '10 12:23:26 PM by eX

^ I think you're missing a "don't" in that first line.

But I agree. "Karen's plan to seduce or blackmail Joe, Joe's plan to swindle or marry Martha, Martha and Elmer's plan to take over Clint's business or bankrupt him, and Clint's plan to murder Karen and frame Elmer for it or at least make him flee town, all collide in the season three cliffhanger finale." is a perfectly acceptable example. It doesn't need all the details of each plan. The fact that each plan is given two acceptable outcomes indicates that they're probably Xanatos Gambits.

edited 28th Sep '10 10:52:51 AM by Madrugada