Then we came home and sat around looking at each other. My kids aren't the stellar event planners I'd always hoped they'd be. So we just flipped through Netflix looking for something to watch. None of us had ever seen the hyped-up series Lost and thought we'd take a peek at it.
Don't bother. Seriously.
Put your pitchforks down, Lost fans, and hear me out. Here's the deal...did you not expect the monster thingee wouldn't pull out the pilot through the window? Come on! I totally called that. In fact, that was the deal breaker. By that point in the show, I'd already anticipated several other events and turns of dialogue. Which brings me to my point...
Predictability is death.
Readers (and TV viewers) don't want their guesses to come true (unless it's a romance, but even then, the route to get hero/heroine together has to be riddled with chance happenings). When putting together a story, you've got to keep the reader on their toes. When they expect tale to be going in one direction, change lanes, shoot them on a totally different course. Keep your plot fresh at all times.
"...an artist should paint from the heart, and not always what people expect. Predictability often leads to the dullest work, in my opinion, and we have been bored stiff long enough I think."
~ E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushtrokes of a Gadfly
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6 comments:
Exactly. Even in Downton Abbey, I wasn't sure Matthew and Mary would finally admit they loved each other. I couldn't call ti for SURE. I hoped so, but with all the other plot twists and surprises, I wasn't sure.
Great point. I read so many predictable stories, but then again, I grew up reading Agatha Christie, so I can see movie/book twists coming a mile away (no doubt driving my husband crazy, when in the first few minutes of a show, I say, "WHAT IF..."--I think I totally spoiled The Tourist for him).
I love the way Daphne du Maurier throws in one major, virtually unforeseeable twist in at the end of her books (kinda trying to simulate that experience in my own writing). I loved Heroes as a TV show, because it was so off-the-wall half the time, I couldn't see what was coming next. I've also enjoyed the surprising twists on the TV show Grimm.
well, wish I could write a story like you:)
Ane ~ You're right...the plot twists in Downton are crazy-go-nuts amazing.
Heather ~ I've not read Daphne du Maurier but I think I'll have to now!
Joy ~ You DO write stories like me, every day on your blog!
You're right Michelle, predictability is boring. But I wonder as I plot, are my readers predicting the plot twist I'm hoping will surprise them, or am I being too critical of myself? I guess that's when the crit partners come to the rescue :-)
You got it, Gwen...great crit partners are worth their weight in gold (which is a sizable amount nowadays)!
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