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Question

When writing a novel, authors generally don't want the reader to know how things will end. This is especially true of mystery novels, but obviously applies to any creative story. (A few stories show the end, and then the main question is how that end was achieved. However, the principle of keeping the reader in the dark remains the same.)

For this reason, avoiding a predictable plot is a good thing. You don't want to start setting things up, and then have the reader say to himself: 'Yep, I know how this is going to end.' This question is about how you can avoid creating such a predictable plot.

Here's an example which I recently thought of: Assume I'm writing a fantasy novel which takes place on an isolated island in the middle of the ocean. An amnesia-stricken newcomer arrives in the only village on the island, and quickly learns that life there revolves around escaping the island. The only way to escape the island is by defeating the evil monster keeping everyone from leaving. However, no one has yet been able to slay the monster.

You might not know exactly how, but you can tell that the amnesia-stricken newcomer is going to be the one who kills the monster and frees the people. The story will probably even end with them sailing off into the sunset. Forgetting the cliches for the moment, the plot is easy to predict.

Question: How can I avoid creating such a plot? Or if I have a predictable plot, as in the example above, how can I fix it? Are there simple steps or methods I can follow?

One method I've seen used is to establish a predictable plot or plot point, and then do the opposite, only to turn back at the last second. You still end up where the reader expected though, so this doesn't really solve the problem. It simply arrives at the expected outcome through unexpected methods.

An example is The Hunger Games. In the beginning of the first book, we all expect Katniss to enter the Hunger Games. She does, but only after Prim is chosen instead of her. We weren't expecting that, but she still ends up where we knew she would.

As I said, I don't see this as really solving the problem.

Note: Not a duplicate of this question. That question refers more to genre conventions, while this question deals with plot, and keeping the ending hidden from the reader until the last moment.

I don't think a predictable ending is necessarily a bad thing. I always expect that Sherlock Holmes is going to solve the mystery. It's easy to guess that Sauron will be defeated by the end of The Lord of the Rings. We all know that someone is going to crack the Da Vinci Code. Even if you know what's going to happen in the end, the journey of how the characters get there can still be immensely enjoyable. — 2 hours ago

score 2 · Answer 1 · 2018-11-07 20:58:26Z

An amnesia-stricken newcomer arrives in the only village on the island, and quickly learns that life there revolves around escaping the island. The only way to escape the island is by defeating the evil monster keeping everyone from leaving.

You might not know exactly how, but you can tell that the amnesia-stricken newcomer is going to be the one who kills the monster and frees the people.

Hero-plots are probably the most predictable story type.

You have sold me on a trope of "nameless hero fights a monster". I am not dumb. I have seen too many hero stories to believe this will end any other way, no matter how many times you try a fake-out. You've telegraphed this guy is a hero archetype. There aren't really any other options since you've deliberately stripped away any possibility that he has a unique personality, conflicts, or a family. He doesn't even have a status quo to leave, he is a guy already on an adventure with nothing else to do.

If you base your plot on a Joseph Campbell-esque "hero with a thousand faces" mono-trope then of course everyone will guess how it ends. You are deliberately telling a very old and very one-note plot that is little more than a simplistic male power fantasy. These things end predictably because the goal is always the same: hero is super-awesome!

(Cinderella-plots, the female-coded equivalent, are equally predictable and popular.)

What if he is just a regular guy who grew up in this village in fear of the monster and amnesiac strangers? Now I am less sure how this story will turn out.

What if you code the story for horror instead of hero Ã¢Â€Â“ now I am unsure what the stranger brings, or how many of the villagers lure amnesiac strangers to be fed to their monster, or maybe the "monster" is something totally unexpected like modern-day normal people in cars, like an M. Night Shyamalan movie.

Maybe it is coded like a political thriller, and the real story is all about how the villagers react to the possibility that a stranger might change their status quo Ã¢Â€Â“ now I really don't know how it will turn out because whether or not he defeats a monster is irrelevant to the theme of the story. Anything might happen because heroes and monsters are metaphors.

He could die shortly after arriving in the village and the rest of the story is a few villagers trying to convince the town (and the monster) that he is still a very living threat. Now I've completely subverted expectations because I started with a hero archetype but I was willing to discard him: hero is not super-awesome (gasp) instead here are some plucky guile characters that are much more interesting and extremely under-powered. Sure, I'm still expecting them to "beat" the monster somehow, but it's not so predictable.

There are many other story types, and many other kinds of characters and conflicts. Adding some other flavors to the story will make the ending less inevitable, but to be honest most readers will know what kind of story it is no matter how you try to disguise it, based on the protagonist archetype. If he's a blank-slate male power fantasy, it will severely narrow your options as a writer.

Don't blame readers when they can predict the end. No matter how convoluted you make the plot, they know the purpose of that archetype. You'll have to be willing to subvert the awesome guy fantasy, or tell a story about someone other than awesome guy. "Awesome Guy" only has the one ending (sunsets and boats and adored by all).

Amadeus 42.3k252136 · Answer 2 · 2018-11-07 20:08:58Z

Things are not as they seem. Time and again.

What you present to the MC is not what it seems to be. It requires your imagination to figure why it isn't. You can conceive of a problem: Then try to imagine a way what looks like a problem is NOT, or is actually an opportunity, or is actually the way things should be.

The monster is not a monster. Or it is a monster, but the real problem lies elsewhere.

Alternatively, think of the real problem, and then think of how that might present itself as a different problem, which is what your MC sets out to solve.

Always keep in mind the reasons things stay hidden: Subterfuge. Betrayal. Treason. Misunderstanding, disbelief that something could be true, or misplaced trust. Jumping to conclusions. Secrets, secrets, secrets.

For example, the monster is a dragon, and really is trying to kill the villagers. But the villagers have a secret: They started this war, taking the dragon's egg and selling it for gold. They know exactly why it is attacking them but they aren't talking about it, they are just trying to get this stranger (the MC) to risk his life for the glory of killing the dragon.

Now the dragon is hunting them, intent on revenge and torturing them to try and find out where her egg is, she only lays one per century. By mid-novel, the mission isn't exactly about defeating and killing the dragon at all. In fact the MC may ally himself WITH the dragon, and set out to find the stolen egg.

Then of course, for Act III, the dragon as his ally helps the MC recover his memory. Because the dragon has a secret, too: She is the one that took his memory away.

But now, he has shown bravery and loyalty and true friendship, and has led them to a battle they may well lose. She decides she won't let him risk death under false pretenses. She is a moral dragon. She restores his memory so he can make an informed choice.

And something about knowing who he really is (perhaps the person that stole the egg, or traded it, or maybe he was involved after the egg was stolen, or is related to the king that bought it, so he knows how to circumvent the castle defense) finally allows them to complete the mission without dying.

And the MC is a changed person, he no longer misunderstands dragons, in fact, despite her subterfuge (which he understands and forgives), a dragon has become his best friend.

Now there are holes in that plot, but they can be patched. Figure out who the MC really is, what secret information he might have to get them out of their final dilemma. Figure out how the dragon knew to take him, in particular. How did he figure out the villagers were keeping a secret, and then discover the truth? How did he come to meet the dragon and become her ally in her search?

But this is the general approach: Something is not as it seems. Your MC truly does not understand the problem at all, at first. He thinks he does, but he's got things backwards, sideways, and upside down. You have to figure out why, and (like I just did) sketch a series of three or four of these secrets that act as your turning points in the story, at (very roughly) the 25%, 50%, and 75% and 90% marks. That is the end of ACT I, middle and end of ACT II, and the final piece of the puzzle late in Act III that leads to the finale (last 10% of your story) and conclusion.

raddevus 4,8511821 · Answer 3 · 2018-11-07 20:31:58Z

Of Course, All Endings Are Predictable

There's a bit of a problem with your premise that because an ending is predictable then the story must be boring.

I think everyone knows that all murder mysteries will end with the detective capturing the criminal, but readers keep on reading them.

I think all readers know that by the end of a novel the basic conflicts will be resolved, but we seem to see the old axiom at play here:

Focus on the journey, not just the destination.

Readers are enjoying the journey.

A Very Unexpected Story

Independence Day : Part 3 - New Aliens Arrive

Friday, February 19, 2019

That's the day the mother ship blacked out
the sky over 10 major cities above the Earth. Finally, an alien
emerged flew down to great the President of the United States.

The alien stood in front of the President and point a ominous looking tool at her. "We come to fix everything," the alien said. "Our technology will eradicate all your
disease
and provide you with unlimited energy."

"Thank you so much," said The
President.

Everyone lived happily on Earth with the new alien friends
and many people even traveled back to the aliens planet. It was all
very happy.

That story is very unexpected, but it is also boring.

But now that I've been ridiculous, I will try to offer some advice.

The Real Thing Readers Want Is : Conflict

Readers want an interesting character.

An interesting character is one who wants something above all else: a goal.

The goal must be realistic. By realistic, I mean given the setup, the context, the setting, the character herself, the reader must believe that the character really wants this thing.

The goal must be obvious to the reader. Do not make it something
like, "character wants to be happy". Make it a stated and specific
and physical goal of some type.

Readers want to see the character try to get the thing she wants so badly.

But to keep readers reading there has to be conflict.

So, here's what you do.

Setup up a goal.

Set up milestones that the character will have to hit to get to the
goal.

Show the character failing to hit the milestones all through the
book.

As the book progresses, make it so it seems as if the character will never be able
to attain the goal.

All the while, you must have a character that the reader cares about.
Otherwise when the character fails the reader will think, "ah, I
don't care, the character deserved failure."

Finally, at the very end, have your character make a break-through
that gets her to the goal.

All of that could be considered predicable, but if the character fails over and over then your reader will care and believe when you finally get your character to the goal.

And the reader will have enjoyed the journey.

Cyn 1,716118 · Answer 4 · 2018-11-07 20:41:22Z

Sometimes a predictable plot is not a bad thing. If you choose to go ahead with it, you can still shake things up.

Take something like the modern movie Titanic. We already know the boat is going to sink. And that most of the people will not survive. We know why the boat sunk. We even know a fair number of details because these stories are in our cultural lore (in the US anyway).

It's a true story but the main characters are completely fictional. The instant they meet we know it's going to be a love story, specifically a story of people from different worlds falling in love against all odds. And we'd know that even if the trailers and ads for the movie didn't drum it into our heads.

What we don't know is how they'll react when the ship is sinking. We don't know if they help save people or if they doom them. We can guess they find each other in the madness, but we don't know how. We don't know if they escape the boat or not.

Most importantly, we have no idea if they live or die. We become invested in those characters and root for them and are on the edges of our seats (if the movie did its job) wanting to know the outcome.

Because the outcome isn't "the boat sank." It's "did Rose and Jack live?"

So, sure, turn your story on its head. There are dozens of ways to do that. But even if you don't, you can still make it a story people want to read.

score 2 · Answer 5 · 2018-11-07 20:58:26Z