This post is a shameless rip-off from my comment on a post at our group site by my buddy Abbi, a fab writer who’s sharing some of what she learned at the RWA conference this year.
I haven’t been to any of the big writing conferences (maybe next year!) but I’m making the most of the resources online. There’s a brief handout on the RWA site for the workshop Abbi went to, by two Mills and Boon editors on Variety and Unpredictability.
The key word often seen in rejection letters recently seems to be “unpredictability”. Everyone wants it, but no-one can define it!
I wonder if that’s more because it’s one of those “They’ll recognise it when they see it” things. Maybe it’s easier to define what unpredictability isn’t than what it is?
We know it isn’t cliches, the same type of characters doing the same things we’ve read hundreds of times. But the catch is, it has to be enough the same to fit within the series.
That’s where the real challenge comes in, writing something the same, yet different,
The big take-home message I got from that one-pager is that unpredictability comes from character driven stories, and from the write’s unique voice.
Nothing new there then!
I’m not sure we can set out to write an unpredictable story. I know I can’t anyway. I think all my stories are predictable, to a certain extent. They are different, because all my characters are different and their situations and reactions are different, but I’m not sure they are different enough. I think the odds are good that there won’t be many surprises for the reader as the story plods along.
One reason is, it’s a normal human reaction to solve problems using something we’ve seen work before. Our brains are naturally wired to expend the least effort possible to come up with a solution. So when we write, most of us will automatically reach for the tried and tested answers to situations. Maybe I just need to have my cliche detectors set on high so I pick up when I’ve relied on what I unconsciously knew worked because I’d seen it or read it before for the next step, instead of digging deeper.
I’m wondering how much I took the easy way in my current story rather than reaching higher. As I edit the partial again, I need to look out for the places I made the obvious choice rather than the surprising choice that could delight my reader.
One thing I remember from a Shirley Jump workshop might help- she uses something called the “Rule of Six”.
Now, she does whole workshops on using it, but the basic idea is to make a list of six ways the character could behave in any situation, six things that could happen next, six ways the character could respond to that, six motivations for what they are doing. Whatever it is, make a list of six.
The first few, for most of us, will almost certainly be cliches. By five and definitely by six, we should be getting to something interesting. Problem is, I haven’t used it at all so far!
What techniques do you use to keep your writing unpredictable?
