Knotted: Plots & Rapunzel’s Hair

I have longer hair and on occasion (more than I’d care to admit) I don’t get a chance to brush it. While this isn’t a great place to be for my hair, it’s excellent for a story plot.

No one wants to be board. No one wants to be able to guess the ending.

Every time I read a new story or watch a new movie I guess the end right up front. Sadly, I’m usually right. I bet you can too. So as a writer how do you avoid this common problem?

The issue is your story has to be logical without being predictable.

Its so hard to do. The trick lies in what what you don’t tell the readers up front. Writers like to give all the information they can but to create the unpredictable you have to leave things out until absolutely necessary.

But what if your story plot is predictable and you don’t want to change it? Not a problem. Your characters need to be unpredictable then, your narrator unreliable, or your setting out of control. You can create the element of surprise using functions of story beyond plot.

How do you create elements in a story that are unique? What if you’re just out of ideas? I like to use a word box. I print off or write down a collection of unique words dealing in my genre and when I’m stuck pull out 3-5 words and write till I’ve used them all. You’d be suprised how many new ideas or directions you can get using this method.

Good luck with twisting your plots and unknotting your locks.

Happy questing!