This post was written in response to Linda Hill’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday
Great Expectations
On this occasion, Linda’s asked us to let our minds flow on the words expect and unexpected.
I believe these two words describe exactly what readers are looking for, and what authors try their best to incorporate into their writing.
Readers expect to be told a story. Sounds like a simple requirement, and it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy for authors to comply! These stories transmit cultural values, and collective or singular experiences, which will ultimately entertain readers.
Readers have many diverse expectations when they read a novel, but there are three elements all readers expect to find in any type of novel, namely, setting, characters and plot.
The story must take place somewhere and sometime, there must be some people involved, and something must happen as the story unfolds.
Authors must make sure they fulfil their readers expectations, but, in order to make the reading experience worthwhile, they must also add unexpected aspects. Twists and turns in the plot, changes in location or time, unexpected reactions in the characters, or new characters to shake the story line.
Readers expect to find settings, characters, and plots in their novels, but they also crave for the unexpected. The unexpected will keep them reading and will make the experience more pleasurable.
If they are reading a romance, for example, they will expect a happy ending, but they want some unexpected events and turns along the way to keep them interested in the final outcome.
If they are reading crime fiction, they will expect the solution at the end, and the more unexpected it is, the more satisfied they will be.
If it is literary fiction they are reading, they may expect a partially unhappy ending, but they will want to discover and be surprised about how or why things do not work out.
The challenge writers face is combining the expected features in a novel with unexpected factors to make the reading experience worthwhile.
When you write a trilogy, as I am writing, readers expect the ending to books one and two to be inconclusive, but they also expect a happy, or at least more satisfactory ending to book three. It is challenging to strike a balance between the expected and the unexpected continuously for over 1,200 pages! It is a bumpy ride for both writers and readers. I am having fun, and I hope my readers are too!
If you are a reader, which unexpected aspects of the novels you read do you look forward to in a novel?
If you are a writer as well as a reader, how to you include the unexpected in your novels?
If you’d like to read other reflections on these words or take part, follow this link!
Rereading Jane Eyre 
Good post!
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Thanks Noelle💖🌹💗
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I like how you took the stream of consciousness prompt and turned it so seamlessly into advice for writers.
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Thanks! It started as a reflection and sort of ended up that way!
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Expect the unexpected, isn’t that what we are told to do? I like the way you have written about it in this post. For a stream of consciousness piece, it is very lucid and covers most of the points. As readers we do have certain expectations which must be met. One of them is that not everything will be predictable, some twists will be unexpected.
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I wanted to take part in tge challenge again, so I’d been thinking about the two words all day, but I was looking after my grandchildren yesterday, so when they left, in the evening, I sat down and collected all my rambling thoughts! I’m pleased it turned out coherent!
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Maybe looking after the grandchildren with thoughts running around in the background is the secret! 🙂
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Very good question! As a writer, for the series I just published, although I had some things very clear in my mind, I wasn’t exactly sure how the ending I wanted would come about, so I surprised myself..
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Exactly my thoughts, Olga! I often surprise myself. Like you I have a basic structure in mind, but then characters have a mind of their own and they surprise me too! Thanks for dropping by and commenting 💗🌹💖
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Great post.
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Thank you, Margaret!
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Hmmm…I really like this post! As a reader, I do love “unexpected” plot twists, especially ones that make you just a bit uncomfortable as you wait for the story to unfold, like “waiting for the other shoe to drop.” My mind tends to go wild imagining what the characters might do, and I like it when they surprise me 🙂
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I really like this. Also love the idea of letting your “mind flow”. Freewriting is one of my favorite writing exercises. Great words, too!
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As the mind flows we also make associations, which seem contradictory, but really they’re just the other side of the coin.
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