On Subverting Expectations

You might have heard people talking about subverting expectations recently. Indeed, the phrase itself has become something of a meme recently given the, ahem, unfortunate ending of a certain famous television series. So today, I thought I’d talk a bit about what subverting expectations means and how it can be both a good thing and a bad thing.

In simple terms, subverting the expectations of the reader involves doing something they wouldn’t expect. When done properly, this can actually be a go...