Predictability
I2Q April 2016 Editorial
www.ink2quill.com

Predictability in stories is one of the most widely debatted topics for fans and storytellers alike. Movies and books get criticized for it and writers can get censured for not having it. Some litterary masterpieces avoid it altogether with tools like deus ex machina (such as the case in Euripides´ Medea). I understand that it´s sometimes not always easy to find, the unconventional, shocking or message revealing twists and turns of a story without predictability. People expect a certain amount of it and can even be disappointed at its absence.

It is said that Robert Louis Stevenson´s masterpiece ”Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde” is highly censured because the author´s wife found some parts too offensive for English society of the day. I have to say that although it is a masterpiece, to me, it seems diminished or not quite whole. I strongly feel that those unpredictable and offensive parts she removed would have stood the test of time and made for a fuller tale. Censorship leads to predictability.

So what is predictability´s place in storytelling? How much of it should a storyteller use? Everybody seems to have their own idea or formula for it, like a chef with salt, but like salt in soup if you add too much you spoil the whole dish.

So in conclusion, the only piece of advice that I can give on predictabilty in a story is to avoid it at the end of any story. (With exceptions like love stories and the romantic genre and its subcategories). A predictable ending is almost always a disappointment.

(Commentary by www.ink2quill.com )
I2Q

I2Q Blogs / Opinions april2016 editorial / ink2quill / predictability /