: Re: How can I avoid a predictable plot? When writing a novel, authors generally don't want the reader to know how things will end. This is especially true of mystery novels, but obviously applies

@Goswami879

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A story is hooking up its reader on a conflict. The story has an obligation to resolve this conflict. And in many cases it is very clear from the very beginning what this resolution will be - the story just tries to take a "scenic route", full of twists and turns, towards this resolution. But this is not something that you want, right? You want the resolution itself to be unpredictable (like in the Lost show).

One way of addressing it to create a Mystery. In this case, the primary conflict should not be between the protagonist and the monster. The conflict is between protagonist and his environment, and defeating the monster is only one of the ways of solving it.

The second way is twisting the plot (and @Amadeus already had written a good answer addressing that). The monster is not as bad as it seems, and initial conflict gets transformed into a different one.

And the third way is a "twistless" plot transformation. Protagonist gradually comes to a realization that there are more important things than killing a monster. His escape from the island may come as a bonus.

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