Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Defy Expectations

To keep your writing interesting, don't always give the reader what they expect. For example: An apple a day keeps the lawyer away. - or - She was quiet as a chipmunk.

Defying the reader's expectations will keep them intrigued... as long as it's done in moderation.  The most adept author I can think of in this regard is Terry Pratchett.  He has a way of describing Discworld in general, and Ankh-Morpork in particular, that turns people's expectations of a world upside down and inside out.

At the same time, as bizarre as some of the descriptions of Discworld are, Pratchett conveys that - to the characters of his books - these are simply the normal state of things.  A world balanced on four elephants and a giant turtle?  Sure, why not?  In The Color of Magic, he even has a team of scientists examining the phenomenon, which lends it credibility.

Change the descriptions in the writing prompts below until you get something more interesting...

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