Discussion Novel Writing/Reading, Predictablity vs Surprise

From reading many novels (mostly xianxia), there seems to be a certain degree of both surprise and predictability. Mostly predictability, but I didn't view it in a negative way. In fact, I enjoyed predicting the future plots of the story and either if I guessed right or wrong, I would still find it interesting either way.

So question is, what do you like better from a story. One that you have some sense of predictability or one that will leave you surprised by the sudden turn of events? Or perhaps a mixture of both?

Or another way to phrase it, what stories have you read that you liked the most falls into one of the following poll choices?

 

A mixture of both, But if given a choice I would lean a little more on predictability.

 

I like both, but it's really best if the Surprise was Predictable in hindsight. Say you're reading the adventures of the MC and then a surprise happens. When that begins, you should think "Oh yea, this happened in the background of the story..." and all that. It's good to make scenes connect and it's usually this reason why I place ISSTH and its deeper world higher up on the list of Xuanhuans than, say, The Magus Era which focuses on surprise over believability

 

More predictable nowdays... especially xianxias. I like surprises though

 

I should say novels needed both. Without predictability the novel will become dull cause the readers doesn't have interaction with the story while giving too much information makes it even duller cause the element of surprise is one of the extreme factor that effects the novel itself. You can choose what will you do if you're going to make the predictability the primary target or the secondary of it. When choosing predictability as the primary you can control the readers excitement like most of the time (Were the MC gets a lot stronger and his going to thrash does arrogant people and the likes). While if you make the surprise element the primary you will make the readers guess a lot. While giving a vague information of what will happen in the future. The main factor of the surprise element is its versatility it can make a subtle changes on the later part not like predictability.

PS. I dont write I just read.

 

i like cliches, cause i know what i like and expect them to occur. I like predictability but if there is something that surprises me i love the novel more for it. A certain deviation from the norm, a bit of the author's own take on cliche settings or such, really gets me interested. Like that manga about the hero forums. and things of the like.

 

People like changes, but at the same time, they also want familiarity.

The same goes for novels. You need a certain level of predictability/formula that people look for and are comfortable with, while keeping the readers up on their toes with some unpredictability to prevent the story from becoming stale.

 

something like this.

predictable but suddenly pulled a surprise.

i think an example of this would be Code Geass.

 

If you say that its sounds easy. But if you can pull it off in the story line. Im hands off for you.

 

Hmmm it's kinda like using a gacha machine, you should know what you're getting frome the machine, but not necessarily what's in the capsule.

If that makes sense

 

I think people want to be able to mostly guess the ending, so predictable that way. But surprises along the journey to the ending provided they are paced right.

If you look at a movie like "Airplane!" there's a joke every 60 seconds it feels like. Some might find that slow, some fast, etc. I think with novels if you keep piling on stress like Aliad(I think it was that one) did on RRL then generally people dislike it eventually. Also if you keep throwing out surprises out of nowhere after the first few chapters that's also irritating to a lot of people.

 

I don't really care about it. What I seek when reading is how author write it. Even if it become 100% predictable or 100% surprise. I more concern how author write to reach such conclusion. I had read bad way 100% predictable or 100% surprise delivered, also both become interesting to read. So I vote none

 

I only continued Kumo Desu Ga, Nani ka? Because how she reacted to humans and the side stories surprised me.
I stopped Re:Monster when it felt predictable

Spoiler

and it was, felt bored when he fought the Kobolds, dropped when he fought humans.

So far, I had been really displeased where the author try to throw more features without further exploring the previous one. For example, MC learns magic, but before you could grasp how powerful magic really is or whom are the top magicians, the MC learns a forbidden magic or find a magical weapon. This might be count as surprise, but it really is predictable that he will use those, becoming a god-like existence, when fighting the powerful magicians.

 

depends how the author puts them in. If they put in a surprise that's kinda forced into the story its not that good but if its one where you can connect the dots with previous events its even better! what would be even cooler is that if there was a surprise that didn't make sense at first but the future chapters clear it up for us! All hail novels!

P.S I like 'em both

 

Surprise me, I'll love it. Especially when it's done without breaking the predefined rules the author has created before.

 

Predictable works for me. It's hard to do surprises right because unless it's way out there you're more than likely going to guess it as most of the info is given before hand in the story. Predictable works better because you can include little snippets throughout the novel. Some will guess it and look forward to it. Others will not realise but then they'll have that 'oh yeah' moment when they link past information and make all the connections. That's the bit I like personally.

Go with predictable because you can make it all obv but then have a little twist somewhere which no one will expect. That's better to read because it brings a slight exciting element to things. Better to do that than force surprises in that ruin the novel

 

Rokka no Yuusha, the guide to how not to guess what really is happening

 

I answered more surprise than predictability.

The surprise I mean here though, is a surprise that makes sense. But it's still a surprise because ex. a minor detail has become crucial --> me surprised and goes dang author good job. If you know what I mean?

This kind of surprise is not predictability to me. If I can predict something, it's either cliche or too obvious. Predictability to me is when I am sure about what is going to happen. And nah, really dude? This is getting old- kind of thing. I like some cliches though therefore I won't completely go hate over this.

 

I personally feel like when reading something it's best if it's predictable in some way or another while still maintaining an element of surprise, given that the surprise should be properly explained though. It's especially great when the surprise comes from small bits and pieces here and there that turns out to be important later on or is used as a catalyst for the surprise. Making small things connect to make a bigger picture/situation is a huge plus for me.