The Power of Expectations - Learn How To Write A Novel

Happy Monday. I hope you enjoyed the last weekend of August. We went on a gator walk. Sort of like a bear hunt, but with gators.

So, near our Florida house, a 1.5 mile trail winds through the swampland, along the Indian River and emerges at the beach. My husband has been dying to take this mosquito infested walk, in hopes of finding a ‘gator.

Mostly because of this stupid sign:

“It’ll be fun!” he said.

“Sure it will.” I picked up a long stick and handed it to him. “You go first.”

We headed out into the jungle, winding arounds swamps and mangrove-thick beaches and over winding rivers and swatted mosquitos and hubby hunted for alligators.

I prayed. God, if you love me, you won’t let me see an alligator.

We emerged to the beach, and I gave a fist pump of joy…no gators.

Not hubs. “What? No gators on our gator tour?” He ran into the ocean to douse his sorrows.

But it made me think about expectations, and how each reader comes to a story with a certain set of expectations.

Most of the expectations, are genre driven.

If it’s a romance, we expect two people to fall in love and have a happy ending.
If it’s a suspense, we expect trouble in the beginning, and continued fear throughout the novel.
If it’s a mystery, we expect a dead body at the beginning, and investigation along the way.
If it’s a fantasy, we expect rich storyworld building.
If it’s a historical, we expect accuracy and a retelling of history.

But we have other expectations, also, like the ones driven by our trope.

If we have a romance involving amnesia, we expect someone from the past to show up and cause trouble.
If we have a romance with a secret baby, we expect the father to show up and discover the truth.

All tropes have expectations of plot—this is why readers love them.

And then there’s the expectations driven by the promises of the premise:

A cooking show host who can’t cook…we expect her to be exposed, right?
A prince hiding in south Florida—we expect him to be discovered.

In a story, if we don’t deliver on those expectations—or at least acknowledge them as we give the reader a surprise, then you’ll have disappointed readers.

Here’s a little trick I use to make sure I meet my readers expectations:

I define the genre and make a list of everything that needs to go in it.
I label the trope (or tropes) and list the expectations of that trope.
I look at my premise and dream up all the scenarios that might satisfy my readers expectations.

AND THEN…I make a list of everything I would like to see in a novel like this. The secrets, plot twists and even scenarios that would make this book particularly fun. I’ll even add unexpected characters and pull in events from previous stories.

Here’s a litmus test…If you don’t love the story, probably your reader won’t either. So…what will make you love it?

Your goal as an author is to deliver a powerful emotional experience, whether it is keeping your reader up all night with the lights on, or making your reader fall in love, or giving them the satisfaction of solving a mystery before your hero does. You do this by meeting expectations…and then going beyond to find the secrets, twists and turns and surprises that you know your reader will love.

Just a few things to consider if you’re brainstorming, or even rewriting a novel this week (like I am!)

Your story matters! Go, make it brilliant!