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Lisabet
Sarai
We
all love stories. It's in our genes. Humans have been spinning tales
for thousands of years. From the sagas our ancestors told as they
huddled around their campfires to the ebooks flying off today's
virtual shelves, stories satisfy some deep psychological need.
Sometimes
we want a familiar story, even though we've heard it a million times
before. We anticipate and then enjoy the expected conclusion, which
reassures us that all is right in the world. Often, though, we follow
a story because we want to know what comes next. Suspense and
uncertainty produce a particular kind of excitement., a tension that
is pleasurably released when the uncertainty is resolved. Suspense is
what keeps readers turning pages long after their normal bedtimes.
They don't want to stop reading until they see how it all turns out.
In
genre fiction such as romance or mystery, readers know the final
shape the story will assume. The lovers will overcome the obstacles
that confront them in order to be together. The guilty parties will
be identified, the mechanisms of the crime will be explained and
usually the perpetrators will be brought to justice. Part of the
reason readers enjoy these genres is that they provide the same
satisfying reassurance as a well-known fairy tale or myth. A book
that labels itself as romance or mystery then fails to provide the
expected pattern of resolution will likely arouse readers' ire.
This
does not mean that stories in these genres should be predictable. As
the story progresses, a skillful writer will make the reader question
how the expected ending could possibly come about. You'll lose your
reader's attention if he or she stops wondering what happens next.
Unfortunately,
I find that a significant percentage of the romance I read is far too
predictable, at least for my tastes. By the time I've finished the
first chapter or two, I know the general path the story will take. I
can't presume to speak for other readers, but this definitely
diminishes my own enjoyment.
As
an author of erotic romance, I struggle to add suspense to my own
stories. It's not always a conscious process, but when I sat down to
write this post, I tried to analyze the strategies that I use, or
have seen others use, to avoid predictability. I identified four
techniques that can be helpful in this regard.
1.
Withhold critical facts
Even
if you're a pantster rather than a plotter, you'll generally know
more about your characters and their background than you tell your
readers. Often there are things in a character's history that are
critical to the plot. By holding back and not disclosing these facts
right away, you can heighten the level of uncertainty and make the
final resolution more surprising.
I
found an example in my ménage story Wild About That Thing. Ruby
Jones, the heroine, owns a struggling blues club that represents her
life's dream. As the story opens, she has received a letter from the
lawyers for the new owner of her rented building, indicating that her
lease will not be renewed and that she must vacate the premises. Her
anxiety over her impending eviction colors her reactions to the two
men who become her lovers.
Quite
late in the tale, I reveal the fact that one of her lovers, Remy, is
in fact the building owner. This serves two purposes in the
narrative, emotional and practical. First, it adds a sudden obstacle
to the relationship (since Ruby is rightfully upset that he had not
told her sooner) and also allows the second man in the triangle,
Zeke, to come to Remy's defense. Second, it provides a plausible
solution to the problem of Ruby's eviction.
Keeping
important details secret from your readers can be an effective way to
add unpredictability, but it does carry the risk of appearing
contrived. The new information, when it is finally exposed, must be
believable. It must not seem to "come from left field". If
you can, you should drop hints earlier in the story. When the
revelation finally occurs, you want your readers to nod their heads,
saying "Yes, of course, I should have known!"
2.
Keep alternatives alive
Fiction,
especially romantic fiction, frequently revolves around a character's
choices. Your heroine may be choosing between two potential
relationships, or between a relationship and a life path that will
make that relationship impossible. To avoid predictability, you need
to paint the competing alternatives as equally attractive and
plausible. You should also maintain the ambiguity concerning the
character's ultimate decision for as long as possible.
To
implement this strategy, you can use trade-offs. No one choice is
perfect. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Highlight those
contrasts for your reader. Meanwhile, watch out for stereotypes. The
handsome, arrogant, wealthy playboy; the smoldering, tortured bad boy
biker; the sensitive, nurturing guy next door... You know what I
mean. Stereotypes are a sure way to kill suspense - unless you set
them up and then turn them on their heads. This is actually another
technique for avoiding predictability. If, for example, the playboy
is later revealed to be a submissive who wants to serve as the
heroine's 24/7 slave, you'll definitely surprise (and possibly
delight) your readers.
This
strategy can apply to alternative explanations or scenarios, as well
as decision alternatives. In my erotic suspense novel Exposure,
Stella realizes that any of several people might be responsible for
the mayor's murder and the threats she receives: the mayor's widow;
his opponent in the upcoming election; the sinister mob boss; even
the cop who's Stella's high school friend and current lover. I try to
provide evidence supporting each of these hypotheses. I want to keep
the reader guessing.
3.
Allow your characters to change
A
story is a journey taken by your characters. Events occur and the
characters change in response. You can use these changes to make your
story less predictable. As the tale unfolds and your characters
develop, they will behave and react in ways your reader may not
expect. In fact, their surprising behavior will reveal the nature of
their inner changes.
The
movie "Long Kiss Goodgnight"
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116908/)
provides a great example. Geena Davis stars as a suburban wife and
mother who gradually recovers from amnesia to realize that she's a
former spy. Over the course of the film, polite, conventional,
squeaky-clean Samantha morphs into wise-ass, slutty, violent Charly,
the top secret agent now running for her life. The shift is gradual.
Since you never know (until you see it) how far Charly has reverted
to her old self, you never know exactly what she's likely to do.
Most
romance character shifts are less extreme. Just remember that static
characters are easy to predict. Also, some change trajectories have
become clichés. The uptight, authoritarian female executive who
gradually realizes that she craves submission; the woman wounded by
past relationships who must learn to trust a new love; the
emancipated, free-wheeling chick looking for no-strings sex who
discovers instead a deep need for commitment; these patterns have
been been employed so often that they'll kill any suspense - unless
of course, you use misdirection, shattering the cliché to send the
character off on a new and surprising path of development
4.
Take advantage of strong emotion
Characters
don't just change over the course of the story, but moment to moment
as well. Even the most stable individuals are not 100% consistent in
how they behave, especially under the influence of strong emotion.
Anger, grief, guilt, terror and shame can all induce people to behave
in atypical ways that would be hard to predict based on their normal
personalities. Since such emotions often occur at critical points in
your plot, you can use them to introduce the unexpected into your
tales.
For
example, Kate O'Neil, the heroine of my novel Raw Silk, is a
self-confident, independent professional woman. Her first full-blown
experience as a submissive stuns and scares her. She actually skips
out of work, jumps on a plane, and escapes to the safest place she
can think of (in this case, Singapore). This is highly unusual for
someone as responsible and career-oriented Kate. Even I was surprised
when she did it! The episode contributes to the plot by providing her
with an opportunity to reflect on her reactions - as well as a chance
for readers to catch their breath.
I’ve
been using erotic romance for my examples so far, but non-romantic
erotica also has its predictable patterns. Ultimately, readers expect
the characters to have some sort of sexual interaction—and more
likely sooner rather than later! Readers are in it for the climax,
sure, but the experience will be more pleasurable if there are some
twists and turns along the way. That’s why I personally find a lot
of “stroke fiction” uninteresting and unsatisfying. If there’s
no suspense at all, just people having sex, the story falls flat.
(Your mileage may vary, of course.)
Authors
of genre fiction walk a tightrope. On the one hand, we must give our
readers the pattern of resolution they expect - a happy ending, in
the case of romance, an orgasm (or more than one!) in erotica. On the
other, we want to keep our readers turning the pages, wondering what
is going to happen next. We must be faithful to the conventions of
our genre while still ringing enough changes to be fresh and
exciting. It's a tall order. I hope that the suggestions I've made in
this post get you thinking about how you can maintain this balance in
your own work.
And
if you’re a reader but not a writer, maybe this will help you
understand why some books thrill you and others leave you flat.
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