Home ⁄ Archive by Category "writing" (Page 6)

Category: writing

Top 5 sci-fi and fantasy couples

Kylie Fennell
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day this week, I wanted to go with my top 5 couples of sci-fi and fantasy.
1. Han Solo and Princess Leia, Star Wars
So yeah, a little predictable, but I’m a sucker for this love-hate relationship. One of my favourite lines from Han Solo:
‘Look, I ain’t in this for your revolution, and I’m not in it for you, princess. I expect to be well paid. I’m in it for the money’
2. Princess Buttercup & Westley, The Princess Bride
Westley is pathetically devoted to his long lost love Buttercup, but who could help but fall for his charms when he responds to your every request with: ‘As you wish’.
3. Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo, Game of Thrones
So they had a rocky start with that child-bride arranged marriage to a savage thing, but it didn’t take long for animalistic love to bloom.
4. Arwen and Aragorn, Lord of the Rings
A devastatingly dark and mysterious mortal falls for an immortal Elf. It could have been a little Romeo and Juliet doomed but true love won through in the end.
5. Madmartigan and Sorsha, Willow
Reckless, disgraced and disheveled, Madmartigan becomes smitten by a fairy spell and declares his love for Sorsha, who he hates.
He has no recollection of his love declaration and when questioned cries out in complete disgust and shock: ‘I don’t love her, she kicked me in the face!’
Shame it didn’t work out in real life for this once-were married couple.

So go ahead and celebrate this Valentine’s Day with a movie marathon featuring my favourite couples.
To stay in the know about my writing projects and to receive regular writing tips and content like this, sign up here.

And the prize goes to…first readers

Kylie Fennell
“I have homework.” My son greeted me outside his classroom yesterday. No “Hello mum”, just “I have homework”.
Sounds about right? Well, yes and no.
My son is four-years-old. He started school this week – a very big milestone for our household.
The prospect of trying to get Master Four to sit still for more than a nanosecond and focus on homework made me shudder.
Did I mention he is four?
Anyway, my horror subsided when he pointed out that his homework was to read his ‘book’.
Master Four proudly held up said book; a stapled four-page booklet with coloured in pictures and accompanying words that he had carefully traced.
The book went like this:
“I am a boy. I am a girl. I am a dog. I am a snake.”
Hey not exactly Man Booker Prize material, but it’s pretty darn cool when your son reads to you with a level of enthusiasm and pride that I immediately matched.
It reminded me of just how truly magical reading is and why I want to write.
On days like this when I’m juggling school drop-offs and pick-ups, my “day job”, updating blog posts, organising lunches and dinners, and everything else that pops up in between, the last thing I feel like doing is sitting down to write or edit.
Or more accurately, I might want to, but my brain is so fried that the words just don’t seem to come together.
On days like this, coming up with “I am a boy. I am a girl. I am a dog. I am a snake” would be something worth celebrating.
Fortunately, every day isn’t like this. There are magic moments when you realise your son is ‘reading’ for the first time.
I want more of those moments. I want to create moments of magic for others when they read my books.
So while today my fingers are so heavy with fatigue they threaten to collapse on the keyboard, tomorrow the magic will be back.
In the meantime I’ll just have to settle for:  “I am a mother. I am a wife. I am a businesswoman. AND. I am a writer.”
To stay in the know about my writing projects and to receive regular writing tips and content like this, sign up here.

10 images and words to inspire your writing

Kylie Fennell

Sometimes…no…more than sometimes, a writer needs a little inspiration. Here are 10 of my favourite images and words from the internet that inspire me.

Most of them are self explanatory, though the Alice in Wonderland image is one that speaks to the philosophy of this blog:

“Like Alice in Wonderland I go about my day-to-day life hopeful of falling down a rabbit hole and discovering new ideas or worlds. Sometimes that rabbit hole will lead to a different perspective or it might lead to a fantasy world where dragons live”. These and other inspirational images can be found on my Pinterest pages.

I hope these inspire you too in 2015.

   

 

 

Christmas movie must-see list

Kylie Fennell 1 comment
Christmas is definitely my favourite time of year.
I was the kid who believed in Santa Claus right up until…oh heck I still believe in Santa Claus.
For me Christmas is about magical things and beings, excuses to dress up in festive costumes, hanging out with family and friends, sharing the magic with your kids, delicious food and drink and Christmas carols on repeat.
It’s about nostalgia and memories of excitement and the joy I felt as a child, but there’s one other thing.
Christmas is not Christmas without Christmas movies.
So here is my hit list of favourite Christmas movies of all time.
  1. Picard – Make it So (Snow) Not so much a Christmas movie as a YouTube clip but totally brilliant!
  2. Elf – Will Ferrell as a fully grown elf. Goofy and hilarious. L-O-V-E it. 
  3. Miracle on 34th Street – the original movie is a classic for good reason. The best part is how they prove Santa is real by the fact the US Postal Service sends all of Santa’s mail to him.
  4. It’s a Wonderful Life – to be completely honest the first time this classic came to my notice was when footage was featured in 80s classic, Gremlins, which I watched as a child. When I got a bit older I made a point of watching the whole movie and was hooked. Gremlins of course also makes it on my must see Christmas list. 
  5. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – Chevy Chase and the Griswolds at their best. Enough said. This is a family favourite among my in-laws particularly.
  6. Little Women – this is not exactly an exclusively Christmas movie and I prefer the book to the movie versions, but there are some beautiful heart warming scenes centred around Christmas and family. Tear jerking stuff but beautiful.
  7. For a complete change of scene I wanted to add my brother’s all time favourite…Die Hard. When I asked him for his favourite Christmas movies this was the first one out of his mouth. It never occurred to me that it was a Christmas movie…not sure still if it qualifies, but hey the bad guy (Alan Rickman) also plays Snape in Harry Potter and is one of my favourite actors, so there you go little bro.
So there you have it. My must-see list.  I can’t stick around too long though as I have some Christmas movies to watch. Merry Christmas to you and all your loved ones and a brilliant New Year.
To stay in the know about my writing projects and to receive regular writing tips and content like this, sign up here.

Confessions of a writer – a storyteller – but not a literary expert

Kylie Fennell
I have a confession to make.
I love books. I love to read. I love to write.
I’m a writer. I’m a reader.
I dream about being a best-selling novelist.
You could say, if you can excuse the cliché, I’m passionate about writing and reading.
I’m a lot of other things as well; a mum, business owner and enthusiastic home cook.
All of the above statements are true but hardly confessions. What I really need to confess is that I’m not a ‘literary expert’…or at least not by traditional standards.
It’s strange when you consider that I have written for a living. I’m not talking about just the occasional scribble, I have written A LOT. I have worked as a journalist and communication specialist for more years than I care to admit. I also have done my fair share of creative writing.
I read everything from non-fiction and textbooks to thrillers and classics (who doesn’t like a bit of Jane Austen? And if you don’t, you and I need to sit down for an intervention led by my beloved high school English teacher Mr Gibson).
Then there are my all time favourite genres – historical fiction and fantasy. Yep, I will read just about anything.
All in all, I consider myself reasonably well-read and not-too-shabby a writer. A literary expert though? I’m afraid not.
This leads me to wonder if it is possible to be a successful novelist without being a literary expert.
Can I write a great novel without it being a literary masterpiece?
It all depends on your definition of literary masterpiece. Oxford Dictionaries describes a masterpiece as ‘a work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship’. Other definitions say a literary masterpiece is a piece of work that can withstand the test of time.
The latter definition is what trips me up. ‘Withstand(ing) the test of time’ is a big call. Does it mean ’til the end of time. Does it mean ’til the next great book you read. It’s not a measure I personally use to determine whether a book is good or not. It’s not how I evaluate my own writing.
My test of a good book (and my own writing) is the following question: ‘Is it a good yarn?’ – that’s probably the old-school journalist in me.
I often hear of books being slammed by critics because they lacked literary brilliance or that they just weren’t clever enough.
Most of these people are literary experts who have honed their craft over years of study and practise. They analyse and understand literature in ways that I don’t. I applaud them but can’t be them.
I don’t, or more correctly, can’t dissect and analyse individual sentences of a book and search for evidence of literary genius. I’m not sure I have the patience, inclination or capability to do so.
Is this the wrong attitude to have? Should I re-focus my efforts on writing a literary masterpiece? Should I try to pose as a literary expert?
Over the course of my reading career I have probably dissected and analysed writing and books without even realising. But have I dug deeper in my analysis? No.
Just like I can’t pick a ‘buttery note’ in a glass of white wine, I can’t give you a true literary analysis of a book. I can tell you which wine and book I like and why. If pressed I could probably form a pretty compelling critique but it wouldn’t be an in-depth analysis.
Does that make me a literary dunce and mean my book writing career is doomed? I really hope not. I’m terrified my writing won’t pass the literary test but I can’t change my approach to reading and writing. It’s just not me.
So I may not be a literary expert but I do have my own craft and I am something…a STORYTELLER
I am dedicated to my style of reading and writing. My approach is to read and write for enjoyment.
To win my heart and mind, a novel needs to be a good-yarn. It needs to be well-written; for me this means the writing is clean, simple, direct and honest. It still needs an engaging plot and characters but it doesn’t need to be a literary masterpiece. And for the same reasons I won’t restrict my reading to literary masterpieces, I won’t set out to write one.
I don’t need to write something that changes the way people think about the world. I don’t need a Man Booker Prize; though I would really, really like one; pretty please, one day.
I want to write good yarns. I want people to enjoy what I write. I want my novels to be published. I want favourable reviews. And if the publishing gods look on my favourably, I want to be a best-selling author.
Yes, I’m aiming for the stars, but if I write how I know, I stand a chance. If I put all my efforts into trying to write a literary masterpiece, I am doomed to fail.
So I will write what I enjoy.
I may never write a literary masterpiece, but that’s okay (yes it’s okay, even for a self-proclaimed perfectionist).
I will continue to write. I have no choice. I am a slave to the words in my head; the same words that demand to come to life on a computer screen and in print.
The next step is to be brave, bare my heart and soul and share my words with the world. And share them I will. I will share my writing with anyone willing to read it. This blog is just the starting point.
So stay tuned if you are interested in my thoughts on writing, reading and my personal writing projects.
I hope you enjoy my words and don’t feel the need to analyse them…well at least not too much : )
To stay in the know about my writing projects and to receive regular writing tips and content like this, sign up here.

The longhand experiment – saying goodbye to distractions

Kylie Fennell
I sat down three times this week to write this blog. Three times. Each of which was unsuccessful.
The problem is that every time I sat down at the computer, I found something more urgent or more tempting to devote my time to.
Whether it’s emails, funny cat videos or a seemingly important business matter that comes to your attention, it’s hard to keep focused when you are on the computer.
And this is where my larger problem lies. 

The pen (or quill) is mightier than the keyboard

I have great intentions of sitting down and working on my novels, but the moment I put fingers to keyboard I find a thousand other things I “need” to do on the computer.
Without fail, it doesn’t take me long to abandon my writing in favour of other distractions.
It’s hard enough staying motivated throughout the extended drafting, revision and editing process, without having pop-ups and alerts enticing you to wish someone happy birthday or guilting you into checking your mail every two minutes – just in case something urgent pops up.
For someone like me, who loves information and learning new things, a computer can be an addictive place. I can disappear down Google’s rabbithole for hours on end, and in the meantime that book just doesn’t get edited.
This brings me to a shocking conclusion. When it comes to creative writing, I just can’t afford distractions.
Call me crazy, but I’m going to start using good old fashioned notepads from now on…well I definitely will try on the next novel. In the meantime I am going to print out my existing drafts and revise in long hand.
Yes it will probably take me a long time and I’m going to have to type it in anyway at some stage, but I’m in good company. 

JK Rowling favours longhand.
Image from http://jamesruncie.com/

Plenty of famed writers favoured old school pen and paper including Truman Capote, JK Rowling and Joan Collins. 

And if that isn’t enough of a good reason, let me give you some more benefits of writing in longhand.
  1.  Notepads are portable and don’t need batteries
  2. It is free of internet distractions
  3. It will make you a better writer. At least that’s what plenty of authors say, because it encourages you to give more thought to your words. Many will do their first drafts and revisions in longhand and then edit as they type up their notes
  4. You will retain more because putting ink to paper stimulates a part of the brain, the Reticular Activating Centre, or the RAS that enables you to focus on the information you are writing.
  5. It’s a good brain exercise as writing engages your motor-skills and memory. 

For now I will continue writing my blogs and attending to business matters via the computer, but I’ll be picking up the pen and paper for the creative longhand writing experiment.  And maybe, just maybe I will see some of the above benefits and if I’m very fortunate, I might actually finish my first manuscript. So here it goes…

Find out more about me and my writing at www.kyliefennell.com 

Why fantasy and food go together like peanut butter and jelli(ed calf brains)

Kylie Fennell 1 comment
There’s something pretty magical about food.
Ever since I watched Mary Poppins serving up seemingly ordinary, yucky tasting medicine that transformed into different colours and flavours, I was hooked on the idea of magical food.
I’m a very enthusiastic home cook. I love to cook pretty much anything. Any cuisine, technique, savoury or sweet, I will give it a go.
Food has an amazing ability to transport you to different times, places and experiences. It uses all of the senses – taste, smell, sound, sight and touch.

Food memories are a powerful thing, but so are new food experiences – food you had never imagined, magical even; food from history or imaginary worlds; food that ultimately surprises.
It’s little wonder then that there is a growing trend among fantasy fans wanting to immerse themselves in their favourite fictional worlds via food. 

Game of Thrones is the subject of several cookbooks, inspired by the many recipes featured throughout the Fire and Ice series.

Author George R.R. Martin devotes a lot of his writing to food, though it hasn’t always translated so obviously to screen. He explains his obsession for food in the foreword of the official Game of Thrones Companion cookbook A Feast of Fire and Ice written by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer, who run the popular blog, Inn at the Crossroads, that started with them cooking their way through Martin’s books.
Martin says that his goal as a writer has always been to create an immersive vicarious experience for his readers. “Sights, sounds, scents – those are the things that make a scene come alive. Battle, bedroom or banquet table, it makes no matter; the same techniques apply. That’s why I spend so much time and effort describing the food my characters eat; what it is, how it’s prepared, what it looks like, what it smells like, what it tastes like. It grounds the scenes, gives them texture, makes them vivid and visceral and memorable. Sense impressions reach us on much deeper and more primal levels than intellectual discourse can ever hope to.”
This Wall Street Journal article details how hardcore fantasy fans are swapping tips on how to cook dishes like grilled snake with fiery mustard sauce from the book ‘A Feast for Crows’ and jellied calf brains!
The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook features 150 recipes for rustic, gamy fare including fried squirrel and raccoon in bacon drippings.
Fantasy fans have made a pastime out of creating dishes featured in everything from Harry Potter to Twilight, and sharing recipes for butterbeer, chocolate frogs and cauldron cakes.
You don’t have to look far to find cookbooks inspired by your favourite fantasy and sci-fi stories. The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia are the subject of cookbooks as well as Star Wars, to name a few.
Sometimes though you don’t need to look to fantasy for food that surprises. Nothing can be more interesting that the actual food consumed in centuries past.
One of my favourite chefs, of all time, is Heston Blumenthal, who has had a life-long obsession with historical food and the origins of popular dishes. He has specifically explored these themes in Heston’s Feasts TV series as well as in his book Historic Heston.
Starting from the beginning of the Middle Ages through the late Victorian Period, Blumenthal dives into the rich history of these times and creates bold, daring, and creative recipes inspired of course by dishes from the past.
He gives a twenty-first-century take on delicacies including meat fruit (1500), quaking pudding (1660) and mock turtle soup (1892). Just for the record, meat fruit is exactly as it sounds – meat that looks like fruit.
Like Heston, I like to imagine food from medieval times. What would my characters eat? What would they drink? How would it taste?
For me the ultimate fantasy medieval feast would have to start off with some meat fruit, followed by some hearty roasted pork knuckles with crunchy crackling, washed down with some mulled wine.
For a sweet fix I would turn to some Game of Thrones inspired lemon cakes and blueberry tart. My friend Stephanie over at the Dessert Spoon has recreated both these dishes with delicious results.
Mmmm…I’m salivating already.

So what would you have for your ultimate fantasy feast?
To stay in the know about my writing projects and to receive regular writing tips and content like this, sign up here.

If I was a superhero I would be…

Kylie Fennell

Four-year-old boys and superheroes are pretty much a package deal.

I’m not sure when or how it happened. It may have started with a Batman suit my son was given one Christmas, but it has since morphed into a costume collection featuring everything from Marvel and DC comic book characters and Star Wars, to Transformers and ninja turtles.

It peaked when Book Week came around at kindy and my son was required to dress up as his favourite character from a book.

Not having time to create a costume to match one of Master Four’s favourite Thomas the Tank Engine or Peppa Pig books, I made a mad rush to the shops and picked up a ‘Marvel’ super heroes book box set. This meant Master Four was able to wear his Spiderman costume (his favourite super hero at the time) and have a book to match.

The next obvious step was to make his way through the whole box set. I now have a son who is well and truly obsessed with super heroes of all types, colours and powers. On any given day he can have up to five costume changes, as he rotates through his favourite super hero of the moment. Yesterday he was Iron Man, today he said he wanted to be a Transformer.

And I don’t mind a bit.

Let’s face it, wouldn’t many of us like to wear our own superhero costumes to work. It would sure as heck make for interesting water cooler conversations.

It did get me thinking though: If I was a superhero who would I be?

Wonder Woman 

I remember having a Wonder Woman costume as a child, complete with home-made bullet proof bracelets and a gold lasso. I totally thought I was the cat’s meow. Only in my adult years did I truly appreciate just how absolutely fabulous Lynda Carter’s version of this classy super hero was. This made me want to be Wonder Woman even more.

Then again I would also like to be…

Catwoman

I grew up watching re-runs of the 1960s Batman series, and this feline hero portrayed by both Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt.

These women brought the right amount of cool and sexiness to the role. If I was Catwoman it would have to be one of those versions, though Michelle Pfeiffer also gave a credible performance. Best not to mention Halle Berry’s ill-fated portrayal of this beloved superhero.

You know the list doesn’t end there for me. Some days I’d like to be the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson in The Avengers is one hot lady you wouldn’t want to mess with) then other days I’d like to be Princess Leia (still diggin’ those hairstyles).

Heck. Given the choice I would like to be all of them.

If office protocols and adult social norms didn’t forbid it, I would take a leaf out of my son’s book and wear a different superhero costume for every day of the week.

Instead I get my superhero fix through the characters I create in my books and until my son says “I’m too old for this”, he will be well equipped with the latest super hero costume of his choice.

So the next time you see a four year old ‘fighting crime’ at your nearest mall or Westfield, just smile and ask yourself: If I was a superhero who would I be?

To stay in the know about my writing projects and to receive regular writing tips and content like this, sign up here.

Dragons and other (un)truths and legends

Kylie Fennell

Fact or fiction. So often it seems that urban myths become widely accepted facts. It’s a growing phenomenon only bolstered by the prolific use and sharing capabilities of the internet. A little faux pas or a ground-breaking celebrity rumour can reach millions of people with one innocent (or not so innocent) click of a button.

Whether it is intentional or an accidental slip-up, many of us are guilty to some extent of not letting the truth get in the way of a good story. I do wonder sometimes though if there is a grain of truth in some urban myths – in this case I desperately hope so.
Fact or fiction, mythical stories and creatures have existed in every culture for centuries. Subject of countless urban myths are dragons, the mythical creatures’ mascot.
I, like many others, am fascinated with dragons. Where did the idea of dragons come from? Could dragons have been real at one time? Do they still exist now?
Confession time. I for one believe in dragons, or at least the idea of dragons. To date, I haven’t featured this mythical creature in my own writing, but I do find them pretty darn fascinating. They are the ultimate fantasy creature.
I saw a pin recently incorrectly attributing the following quote to J.R.R. Tolkien: “Always remember, it’s simply not an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons.”
I love the sentiment of this quote, but it turns out this little gem is actually another urban myth. It is believed to have come from author Sarah Ban Breathnach who coined this statement when talking about personal adventures and challenges. She likened dragons to our personal fears and happened to reference an actual Tolkien quote: “It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”
Someone, somewhere, picked out the two quotes, put two and two together and got Tolkien, inspiring thousands of memes and pins around the world. But hey why let the truth get in the way of a good story.
What is true, is that great adventures DO feature dragons.
My first recollection of a love of dragons goes back to being a small child listening to an LP record by popular children’s entertainer of the 70s and 80s, Patsy Biscoe.
My favourite song was her cover of ‘Puff the MagicDragon’. Now many will tell you that the song (originally recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary) contained veiled references to smoking marijuana. Not so says Peter Yarrow from the band who maintains it is about the hardships of growing older. Another urban myth!?
The lyrics for ‘Puff, the Magic Dragon’ were based on a 1959 poem by Leonard Lipton, a 19-year-old Cornell University student and was inspired by an Ogden Nash poem titled ‘Custard the Dragon’, about a “realio, trulio little pet dragon”.
The lyrics tell a story of the ageless dragon Puff and his playmate Jackie Paper, a little boy who grows up and loses interest in the imaginary adventures of childhood and leaves Puff alone and depressed.
To be honest, all of the meaning was lost on me as a child. I just liked the tune and the idea of a dragon, who lived by the sea (in the land of Honalee) and had a human boy as a friend.
My picture of the friendly dragon was only reinforced by the film versions of Pete’s Dragon, where a young orphan named Pete is befriended by a dragon named Elliott, who also acts as his protector.
As I got older I realised that dragons were not always cute, green and loveable creatures, but it only increased my fascination.
The Hobbit is centred around outwitting and slaying Smaug the dragon; Merlin in the recent TV series featured a crafty, talking Great Dragon; and Daenerys Targaryen is the ultimate Mother of Dragons in the wildly successful Game of Thrones.
Some dragons live in caves hoarding treasure and breathing fire down on innocent villagers, others are a symbol of wisdom and strength. Regardless dragons hold a special significance in fantasy writing and history. Real or not they are the stuff of legends.

There is conjecture that the belief in dragons stems from early travellers who came across Komodo dragons, the world’s heaviest living lizards, in Indonesia. Huge fearsome looking lizards yes, but dragons…hardly.
Others track the origins of dragon stories back to the discovery of dinosaur bones. Big reptilian creatures yes, but dragons…probably not.
The lack of substantive proof though hasn’t prevented cultures all over the globe believing in dragons while simultaneously worshiping and fearing them.
Generally speaking, dragons in Asian culture (particularly Chinese) represent wisdom, luck and blessings. The dragons were seen as central to agricultural life since the dragons controlled the weather and the seasons.
Those born in the Chinese Year of the Dragon (like moi) are considered the luckiest.
Scandinavian dragons were the true fire and earth dragons, living in deep subterranean caves and vikings had dragons on the prows of their ships to strike fear into enemies.
The versions of dragons across different cultures are almost infinite, as are the descriptions. Some dragons have wings, some don’t. Some can breathe fire, others can’t. Almost always they are huge reptilian or lizard-like with scales and claws but the similarities usually end there.
I don’t have a preference for any type of dragon. Fact or fiction I don’t care. Most of the fun is in believing. Regardless of the facts, this is one case where I would never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

To stay in the know about my writing projects and to receive regular writing tips and content like this, sign up here.

Surprise

The element of surprise – why fiction needs ‘Red Weddings’ and Soapie-loving tough guys

Kylie Fennell
Out of nowhere, he dropped it on me. I think we were talking about a HR memo and out of nowhere ­

the huge, bearded mountain of a man – the man I regarded as a real tough guy, someone who kept to himself and rarely cracked a smile – drops into conversation casual-like, ‘did you know on the Bold and the Beautiful…’.

‘What?! Did you just say the Bold and the Beautiful.’  I was convinced I must have misheard him. He gave a bashful smile and confirmed that he did in fact say the Bold and the Beautiful. Then he launched into a complete update on the latest storylines, stars and actors to a level of detail rivaling TV Soap magazine. Then he fessed up that he was a major soap fan from way back. Days of Our Lives, Neighbours, Young and the Restless, all of the classics. He was a walking soap opera wiki.
I couldn’t help but laugh. I actually snorted with laughter, and then I howled with laughter and then I cackled. The crazed cackle was enough to bring my colleague into the room to check on me.
I wasn’t laughing because of this tough-guy’s viewing taste. Each to their own, I say. I was beside myself with amusement due to the complete surprise of it. It was totally unexpected, and it made my day. Fortunately this guy, that I now know a little better, saw the humour in it and wasn’t offended by my over the top reaction.
This got me thinking about how the element of surprise can be shocking but also utterly delightful.
Good fiction, particularly sci-fi and fantasy often features twists and surprises. Everyone must remember the (often misquoted) Empire Strikes Back scene where Darth Vader reveals he’s Luke Skywalker’s father. Audiences around the world cried out ‘Noooooooo’ in unison with Luke.
Every good story should have an element of surprise. It doesn’t necessarily mean a twist at the end, just unexpected events.
A good twist in a story or surprise ending shouldn’t be predictable, but it shouldn’t be completely shocking either. What I mean by that is that a reader should be able to go back after the fact and identify clues. However the clues should be laid cleverly enough that they never give the surprise completely away. This is a sign of good foreshadowing.
Sure, readers like to anticipate certain things and surprise endings that seem to come from nowhere can be annoying. A good surprise has to add to the story. It needs to fit and add to the reading experience. It shouldn’t appear disjointed.
It can be really enjoyable to not know how a story is going to unfold, though we tend to anticipate a happy ending – generally speaking of course.
This is where Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has made surprise his signature. He is known for killing off favourite characters when you least expect it and has turned heroic fantasy on its head. The success of his books and the TV series are proof that you don’t necessarily need ‘happily ever after’ to create a great story.
Martin says that it’s important for his readers never to feel too comfortable. That they mustn’t be convinced that the hero must prevail.
“I’ve said in many interviews that I like my fiction to be unpredictable. I like there to be considerable suspense. I killed Ned (Stark) in the first book and it shocked a lot of people. I killed Ned because everybody thinks he’s the hero and that, sure, he’s going to get into trouble, but then he’ll somehow get out of it,” Martin says. (We all know what happened to poor ole Ned Stark.)
“I try to make the readers feel they’ve lived the events of the book. Just as you grieve if a friend is killed, you should grieve if a fictional character is killed. You should care. If somebody dies and you just go get more popcorn, it’s a superficial experience isn’t it?”
I’m not sure I will ever take surprises to the same extreme as Martin, and I won’t be including a ‘Red Wedding’ in my books any time soon. I just couldn’t do it to myself, least of all my readers.
However I definitely plan on a few surprises. Shocking surprises – maybe; Delightful surprises – I hope. It may not be a man-mountain who loves soap operas, but…then again…
To stay in the know about my writing projects and to receive regular writing tips and content like this, sign up here.

Copyright © 2026 Big love. Infinite magic.. All rights reserved.

Designed by ThemeSpade.