: How to subvert expectations and abort plotlines without alienating the reader? Subverting expectations and suddenly aborting plotlines was a no-go zone for me for a while. The only time I could

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If you are subverting expectations just to be different, don't. That's how you get disasters like the final season of Game of Thrones. That Arya thing Shadowzee mentioned isn't the only expectation they subverted poorly.

There's two big problems with setting your goal as to subvert expectations.

You're focused too much on meta-goals. Where your work fits in the genre is much less important than whether or not it's good in the first place. If you're too focused on subverting tropes, you will not put enough effort into other aspects of the writing. Maybe characterization takes a dive because characters have to do things they otherwise wouldn't just to subvert some expectation. Maybe there's plot holes that have to be left open because closing them would fulfill expectations. Remember, it doesn't matter how many tropes you subvert if no one reads it.
Not all expectations are bad. Look at the laser hallway in the first Resident Evil movie. They show it off towards the beginning of the movie as an impenetrable security system. Wouldn't it have been disappointing if Alice had just got in some other way? Wouldn't it have been disappointing if that other guy hadn't been sliced apart by it? I mean, that's a great CGI effect, and we easily could've missed out on it if the writers wanted to subvert Chekov's Gun.

In general I think a good way to tell what expectations are OK to subvert is to see if that subversion would add or remove tension. I think it's nearly always good to use a subverted expectation to add tension. Ned Stark's death, Vader being Luke's father, Halo being a weapon that kills everyone not just the Flood are all good subversions because they expand pre-existing plotlines and open up new ones. Bad subversions wrap things up too neatly with no chance of more development, and they do so in a way with little to no buildup.

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Gymnastics or diving are good parallels to use to answer your question. The more skilled you are the more intricate and challenging routines you can perform. A skilled story-teller can do whatever they wish with the characters and arcs. You can't please everybody all time. Personally, I associate the predictable structures being discussed with Hallmark and other made for TV movies. I'm not alone in avoiding these productions because I know what's going to happen and when it's going to happen . . . so what's the point in watching?

There's also a commercially inspired fear of confusing the reader or not catering to their expectations. This is also a double-edged sword. I do not believe I'm alone in very quickly discarding something written for the comprehension of a 5th grader.

Again, I'll use movies as an example. Certain movies I can watch while writing emails, texting, posting on Twitter, cooking dinner and talking to my partner. Others, those I enjoy, I sit and pay attention . . . and anybody who wants to talk gets thrown out of the room.

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At the end of the day, it has to make sense.

You don't go flipped a story around however you like to confused the reader. Your story needs to make sense. For example, Arya killing the Night King made absolutely no sense to me. Not situationaly and not story wise either. The Night King, a core antagonist is going to be done in, by a Girl who has a panic attack sneaking past a library of White Walkers, yet somehow manages to sneak through a clearing, past a encirclement of White Walkers with no warning. It was sudden, unexpected and disappointing.

For a story that made a point of making sure that no character was covered in plot armor, the final season really threw that on its head, and failed to provide any good explanation or reason behind it.

You can make it less shocking by introducing Easter eggs, hints or small inconsistencies in the story. As an example, the first season of West World, Bernard was revealed to actually be a robot. This was built up by having him sometimes disappear. Having him miss obvious details that a normal person would see. Or having him unable to answer questions that he should be able to answer.

Another example would be the Matrix, introducing the idea that you are actually in a simulation and not the real world. Creating mysterious messages and unknown phone calls. While this was done very early in the movie, there was still a build up, to ensure that the transition wasn't going to leave the reader confused and annoyed.

Even once you reveal your great twist, you need to put in some effort to help re-establish your new setting to the reader to ensure you don't just leave them in the dust. That means you have to explain your new setting and address the previous hints you left.

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how can one effectively ruin an arc for dramatic effect and to subvert expectations

If you want to sell something, you can't. In older fiction, maybe, but in modern fiction, forget it. The MC and antagonist are introduced (or at least referenced) in the first Act, as is the central problem the story will be about, and you can't switch either one out.

It will look like a Deus Ex Machina, it won't get published, it won't be a movie, it sounds like you just want a stunt to try and make the story more interesting. It doesn't make it more interesting, it just makes it confusing, and that makes people put it down. Beginning with agents, publishers, and movie studio readers.

You won't succeed with stunts. You need a character people like that feels compelled to confront a difficult problem, and you have to make THAT interesting. You need obstacles, setbacks brought on by weaknesses, victories brought by skill, character growth and an arc. That is what makes the story interesting, not stunts.

Changing the game in the middle of the story, because it would bore you to continue, means you aren't ready to write a story that long. You are misapplying your imagination and subverting the wrong expectations.

If you want a more ruthless antagonist, write one from the beginning, don't give your hero half a book competing against an incompetent dolt and then suddenly have to beat a genius that makes no mistakes. Give your MC some skill they need to compete against the ruthless antagonist.

And please, don't write an "It was all a DREAM!" ending.

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