Thursday, August 18, 2011  The Element of Surprise  blog21One of
my favorite things about reading a book is being surprised.
(Which is interesting, because in real life, I don’t like being
surprised.)  This surprise doesn’t have to be anything as
dramatic as a twist ending. It can be something as minor as a
character showing an unexpected bit of depth or an unusual facet
of his personality.  But I also like it when I’ve expected the
plot to take a particular trajectory and something else happens.
I like to see an unexpected bit of trouble thrown at a
character, too. How will they react? How does it change the
direction of the story?  What surprises are good for:  As a
distraction: A suddenly erupting argument or a quickly-contained
but alarming grease fire provides a wonderful opportunity to
slip in a clue under the radar. Writers of other genres can also
use this slight of hand technique to protect a larger surprise
later in the book.  For adding humor or quirkiness: You think a
character is going to behave