Write a story which has element of surprise and Mystery
Answers
Last October, I was in New York City. I won a trip for two to The Big Apple and, after a little arm twisting, convinced my husband to go with me. We stayed in a hotel near Times Square and went through that famous triangle of real estate several times in our four days. It’s an overwhelming mess of lights, noise, and shock value, all of it aimed at grabbing attention. When there’s so much stimulation for the senses to process, it takes a lot to stand out.
But that’s exactly what a good story must do—stand out amongst the plethora of choices from which readers may choose.
“Nothing penetrates your brain unless it surprises or intrigues you in some way.” I forget where I heard this statement, and I might not be quoting it correctly, but it is a truth. Some of us writerly types might even call it a truth universally acknowledged. Every story in every genre must include some level of intrigue to keep readers engaged.
Okay. We all agree on that. But now what?
Before I answer that question, I want to relate something I shared with a friend a few days ago. She’s a closet writer who hasn’t shown her work to anyone, not even her husband. Kim was like that. A friend found a manuscript while helping the Woodhouse family move and threatened to beat Kim over the head if she didn’t submit her work to a publisher. I’m not sure what kept Kim silent, but my friend here didn’t want to anyone to see her writing because, right now, she enjoys it. She didn’t want to hear that she was “no good.” I told her—and this is what I want all of you to hear loud and clear—that writing is a learned skill. There aren’t people who have “it” and others who don’t. It’s not like sports where you have to be a certain height or body type to have a shot at the big time. Writing is 95% a learned skill and 5% the love of reading.
With that in mind, let’s tackle surprise, mystery, and suspense because this is the area where most people feel you either have “it” or you don’t. To which I say, “Nonsense.”
The basic thing to understand about these story elements is that you must lay a groundwork of expectations, play off what a normal person would assume to be an underlying truth, and then twist it. That’s why we call it a plot twist.
For example, you start a scene with a mother and father getting the news from police officers that their son has been killed. They break down into tears
What are some things readers might assume are true? List them. As many as you can think of. And then decide how unexpected it would be if you made them false.
The parents are married. They love their son. They were shocked by the news. Their tears are genuine. Their tears are of grief. They don’t know the police officers. They will do whatever they can to help the police find their son’s killer. They’ve got a good enough relationship with their son to know who might want him dead. Their son is male.
How’d that last one catch you? By surprise?
Exactly. Surprise, mystery, and suspense are all built on turning an assumption on its head, and the more deeply held the assumption, the more shocking the twist. As you plot out a story, look for ways to turn things upside down. Ignore the first impulse you have, ignore the second one, the third, and probably even the fourth. When you get down to the fifth possible way the story could go, you’re flirting with a good plot twist. To make sure it’s one you want to take home to Mama and marry, you have to be sure the plot twist is a good match for your character. For example, if your hero is a fifty-nine year old man with osteoporosis, chances are he’s not going to jump out of an airplane just because you, as an author, decide it would be a really surprising thing for him to do. I’m not saying you can’t have him do it, but you’d better give him a character, backstory, and sufficient motivation to make that work. The balance—the real trick of all of this—is making a jump like this both believable and surprising at the same time.
Unsolved Mystery
If I tell you the truth, you'd be surprised, you know what happened? It was a dull day. I had to reach my friend’s house. l took my books and started walking towards his house. It was afternoon and not many souls were out. The sun was beating hard on the earth. I kept walking in my own thoughts. The road leading to my friend’s house is quote quiet. As I was walking the last few meters to reach his house, I fell into a strange hole that was never there. I kept falling for a few minutes. I got scared as there appeared to be no bottom to the hole.
In panic I began screaming, but the scream remain choked in my throat. All of a sudden I stopped falling; I felt my-self suspended in an infinite chasm. As I looked around, I found there was infinite space around me; in the black empty space I could see galaxies, constellations, and stars glimmering. Quite strangely, the hole through which I had fallen had also disappeared. What shocked me the most was even I could not find any sign of my home planet.
I was all alone and around me infinite space. I got scared and very lonely. And then suddenly I fainted. When I came to my senses, I found myself lying in my friend’s bedroom. He said, ‘I saw you lying unconscious on the road near my home; and brought you here.’
I had no clue what had happened to me!
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