DON'T GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!

you're probably asking yourself, 'what?' read on.

You may be thinking to yourself, 'but I've heard you're supposed to give the people what they want?'

In acting, in restaurants, in theme parks, yes. In writing? No. Have you ever read a book that went exactly as you hoped it would; all the male characters ended up in great relationships with their female counterparts, the antagonist got shut down and will never be seen again, and the great curtain of darkness that had fallen over the world during the 'bad' time has suddenly lifted and all is right with the world? You might have, but was it fantastic book worthy of rememberance? Again, no. There was once a book that ended with 'and they lived happily ever after'  once upon a time, but there hasn't been a professionally published book with that ending since that first one. Why'? People hate it when they get what they want (in literature). If you can predict exactly who the main character falls in love with, or who the secret antagonist is within the first chapter AND BE RIGHT, are you happy? No, you're not.

You're terribly disappointed because everything turned out exactly how you thought it would. That's what's known as predictability, something C.S. Lewis would have kicked your a*s for being.

Readers crave that moment of fear where the main character does something completely unexpected, or kills someone on accident, or, or, etc . . . They LOVE that. They might be a little pissed at first if they're really emotional, but once they get over it, they'll realize how genius killing off that character actually was.

Make the reader assume something. What this means is go for something that might seem completely obvious, like "Bob was flirting with the girl from 6B down the hall from his apartment" The reader might assume that Bob is going to ask this chick out or something vaguely romantic will happen (or maybe he'll get shut down and take the walk of shame back to his apartment). The reader will expect this because they think they know your main character like the back of their hands. He's pretty confident, decently good looking, she's no bombshell, but they would make a nice couple. By now the reader is halfway off their chair to head into the kitchen for a snack because they're pretty sure what's about to happen next. HOWEVER! The girls murderous ex-boyfriend breaks through the window brandishing a pistol and waving it around at the both of them. The reader didn't see this coming. They are reinvigorated over your work because something unexpected happened. Bob will not end up with the girl, and possibly not back at his apartment. In fact, he might even die . . . Now the reader cares, Now if the reader wants a snack, they'll have to take the book with them.

Imply something. Readers love when you do this and, in fact, it's not breaking the rule stated at the top. What I'm saying here is: don't tell them something is happening, just slide in some smooth jazzy details and let them work it out for themselves. This ususally works best at the beginning of a chapter. NOTE: readers like to feel smart, and this will make them feel smart without making them feel bored.

Begin the scene. You've already introduced the main character and by now the reader can recognize him, his actions, whatever. Don't explicitly state "Bob woke up, did that weird twitch thing he does with his neck, then left the house to do some yardwork." The reader yawns. 'Okay, we got it', he says rolling his eyes. This has made the character boring. Readers don't like boring. Try this: "The morning called the man awake. A spasm worked it's way through the muscles and tendons in his neck, making it look as if he was shivering. He looked at the clock, the figure shrouded in darkness, recognized the time and moved along with his daily routine."

You know this is Bob. You recognize that twitch in his neck because he's done it the past few chapters. The reader feels cool because they figured something out about you're book (even though it was meant to be figured out) and now they want to read on, just to make sure their predictions were correct. You'll probably hear an 'AHA!' at the end of that paragraph. NOTE: This does not conflict with the lesson because it is a literary device, not a plot thing.

Remember, readers hate it (in literature) when they get what they want. It is your job to be as unexpected as you can. Writing is like a maze. Nobody can enjoy a maze that goes in a straight line. Throw in some turns and dead ends. Keep them guessing.

Have fun, kids.

Questions/comments, you know what to do.

Comments

The Analog Kid

Posted 11 Years Ago Nicely stated!

Olive Gabriel.

Posted 11 Years Ago Thank you. I feel so insignificant, but enlightened. Now, I can improve.

Andre Lamy

Posted 11 Years Ago your lessons are so far very helpfull but scary when i think of how crappy i am as a writer and how much i need to improve lol

Sammie0014

Posted 12 Years Ago I've been writing my own private stories for a while and I guess this is unconsiously what most writers do! So I found this to be a very helpful lesson! I mean seriously, I love love LOVE books which keep me guessing and have thousands of twists and turns that make me laugh, cry, fear for the character or even get angry!

Erika Jones

Posted 12 Years Ago I loved your lessons and I'll take them too full effect! But I have noticed that you honestly, and truly, don't like Twilight. I don't much particularly care for the series itself as a movie, it sounds so stupid, and the one thing I truly did hate about it was sparkling vampires ... I mean, what vampire sparkles!? Besides that being the problem, I find it educating because it's written in first person and I'm familiar with first person writing and I love to write in it, but at the book series as a whole ... I truly don't know, but she sold tons. Also, not everyone likes what others like right?

AK	Posted 12 Years Ago Ooh! The advice was really good. I learnt a lot of things and I hope I'll be able to improve my writing. Thanks for these lessons!

LeaflessTree

Posted 12 Years Ago bob <3 :)

Paradoxical

Posted 13 Years Ago Well the Bob scenes cracked me up, and helped me at the same time. Nicely done, and I think that helped me figure out what to do next in my book.... yay, thanks!