Don't Get Predictable

Good morning and welcome to Friday Feelings. Today, we’re discussing remaining unpredictable in your writing.
Just what does that mean?
Far too many authors settle on a type of story and stick with it. The names and locations will change, but the reader can predict when things will happen in the exact sequence they’ve happened in the last three, four, five, ten books. In other words, the author has developed a basic outline of a book and they simply insert the correct information in the right places. The title will have changed. The cover will be different, but the reader will soon be scratching their head and thinking that they’ve already read this story… many times.
How does a multi-published author avoid this problem?
First of all, they have to be aware of their books. Intimately aware. They need to understand that while this worked in one book, it won’t in another. Your characters must be individuals with different hopes and dreams. Sure, their basic dreams can be the same, but let their expanded dreams shoot in all directions. Don’t have them always going into a building to do the same thing in the same way Character A did in book 4 that was published a few years ago. Give your books individuality.
Some might argue when you’ve published a large number of books that it’s hard not to duplicate some things, especially if the setting is the same or very similar. Here’s where you as an author come into play. Instead of using a full setting in every book, only use the relevant points of interest. Say, you have a team playing a championship game. They’re on a football field. Instead of focusing on the whole field and what’s going on, concentrate on the action where your main character is. Show the story from their limited field of vision.
It’s all good and well for today’s author to produce books more quickly than authors have done in the past. We do have to keep up with all the other books being published daily, but we also have to produce original stories, not a rehash of what we’ve already done.



About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.

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