Don’t Break Promises to Readers

Nearly two years ago, when I finished my Craftsman class with DiAnn Mills, she recommended I get a book entitled Story Trumps Structure, by Steven James.Its tagline is How to Write Unforgettable Fiction by Breaking the Rules. I haven’t read it all yet, but I’ve been skimming. This is a book for “pantsers,” those writers who hate the idea of plotting out every little scene and detail of their story. Because most of us “organic” writers know that Even the best-laid plots of mice and men are sometimes changed while they’re being written. Click To Tweet #amwriting #dontbreakpromises

This book is entirely different than any other book on writing I’ve ever seen. One chapter focuses on “Promises: The Keys to Building Suspense and Satisfying Your Readers.”

This is not something I’ve thought about when writing my novel. That my story is made up of a set of promises that I have to deliver on in order to keep my reader, by first making those promises, then keeping them. James says there are three scenarios at the beginning of any story: 1) will the protagonist have what they desire at the start, lose it and try to find it again? 2) Will the protagonist see what they desire from a distance, and pursue it? 3) Is the protagonist forced to escape what they dread most? The author says any of these three scenarios will launch the story and initiate the promises that will guide it.

Breaking Promises

Here are some of the ways you can break promises to readers:

1. Indicate (by the context, description, or number of words) that something will be important, and then fail to make it significant
2. Develop conflict, then don’t resolve it in a satisfactory way
3. Have your characters act in unbelievable ways
4. Build up a character toward an internal transformation, but end without letting him have one
5. Resolve too much tension too early
6. Introduce a character, make readers care, then drop them from the story

Don't break promises to your readers. Click To Tweet. By avoiding these promise-breakers, we’ll have a better chance of keeping our readers. #amwriting #dontbreakpromises

What about you? Are you a plotter or a pantser? Leave a comment and let me know.