Surprise

If your story is predicatable, you are in danger of both underestimating, and boring , your reader. This is mistake number four!

So try surprising your reader instead – if the obvious thing is to take the plot in a certain direction, you might want to consider something altogether different…

A surprise can take a variety of forms – it may be a major development, something that throws a whole new light on your main character’s situation – it may be a  discovery your protagonist makes, an action by another character that leads to revelations: any revelation of new information that is dynamite as far as your protagonist and their situation is concerned.

Joseph Finder says, ‘One way to avoid this trap (of predictability) is not to over-outline. Be spontaneous in your writing. Allow the characters and the plot to surprise you.’  I like this suggestion, probably because this is the way I write. I am not good at outlines, although I do outline at different stages as my stories progress. Really I like to keep plotting flexible and open to all possibilities.

I have probably done more outlining of plot than ever before while writing  my latest novel Bad Girl. This is probably because it has elements of the crime novel and crime novels tend to be more closely plotted.

Just as with plot so with character – although your readers will come to know and understand your characters, your characters will need to surprise your readers every now and again too.

Writing Tip – A useful way to approach this problem of predictability is to ask the question ‘What if..’  this can also be helpful if your story seems stuck. Take your story or character(and their situation) and  then ask yourself the question, ‘what if’ – now write six ways of developing your character or continuning the story, be as imaginative and loose as you can, wild even! Explore all possibilities and you may surprise yourself by finding that your story takes an entirely new and surprising turn.