Does predictibility spoil a book for you?

[Michelle]

I'm having trouble getting into books at the moment, and I think half the problem is that I'm starting some, and can see almost straight away where it's heading. I know that there are only so many genres/storylines etc, and it seems to me that there's not so many authors writing the unusual.

 

Obviously it's the journey that's important, but I really enjoy something different. Is there anyone like this.. have you ever been put off of a book because it looks predictable?

[angerball]

I can't think of any instances where I have read a book that is very predictable. I'm not all that great at guessing endings, so that's probably why. I do like a book to be original in some sense, even if it's just the writing style, but I can't think of a book where I have known straight away where it was headed.

 

Do you prefer books with twists at the end? Or are you just looking for something where the story (not necessarily the plot, but the way it is written) will take you by surprise?

[Nici]

I don't like predictable books. I have found that Nora Roberts tends to be predictable which is why I don't read her books anymore.

 

I like twists and turns and to gasp at something that I really wasn't expecting!

[Michelle]

Do you prefer books with twists at the end? Or are you just looking for something where the story (not necessarily the plot, but the way it is written) will take you by surprise?

 

I'm not sure what it is.. I do like twists, both at the end, and within the story, but there seems to be something more to it at the moment.

 

I recently enjoyed The Book of Lost Things.. with this one, I kinda knew what the ending would be, but that didn't matter.. it was an unusual story, and you weren't sure what would happen next.

 

On the other hand, I don't like reading crime books any more, because I know the crime will be solved, and the criminal caught. It doesn't matter how good the story is, I don't enjoy reading because I know where it's heading.

 

I think I'm just weird!!

[Maureen]

If its predictable throughout the story - it would bore me - however I don't mind the bad guys getting caught in the end predictions - that would not spoil the fun at all.

[Kell]

In some cases it's more that things really have to happen in a certain way, otherwise it wouldn't work, but there are some authors who are completely predictable and not in a good way.

 

For example, Virginia Andrews - you can pretty much guarantee that it'll be a story about a young girl brought up in a family she later discovers is not her own, only to discover her real family is well-off. She'll then go and stay with them and will fall prey to a male relative and have a child. Through all this, the person she always thought of as her brother will have always fancied her and she's been fighting her "un-natural" feelings for him. When they discover that they are not really brother and sister they end up together, raising the child that resulted through the incestuous relationship together as their own. History then repeats itself through several sequels, and then a prequel is brought out showing that the villain of the first book was made that way because of a relationship gone awry. They are all exactly the same.

[Oblomov]

Not necessarily. If a book is well written with well-rounded characters, it can be enjoyable even if you are familiar with the storyline. For example, I have read so many murder-mysteries in my time that I instinctively make the correct guess as to the identity of the culprit in most books, but don't mind reading on if the story is written well.

 

By the same token, too much unpredictability can ruin a story by bordering on the illogical.

[angerball]

...the person she always thought of as her brother will have always fancied her and she's been fighting her "un-natural" feelings for him....

 

Yep, you pretty much summed up Virginia Andrews there. But sometimes....the person she fanices is her brother (ie. Flowers in the Attic - or one of it's sequels).

[Icecream]

I think that there are a lot of books that have a predictable ending, but then there are also a lot that do not.

 

Did you see the ending coming in ...Esme Lennox? I recently read Lyn Andrews' My Sister's Child and there was so much going on that I didn't see where that was going.

 

On the other hand, where good vs evil in books like Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness or Terry Pratchett's The Hogfather, it is obvious that the good will eventually win.

 

There are lot's of other examples and there are always certain things we can predict about most (if not any) books, but there are usually things we can't, and more importantly, a good book has things to say either within the book, or at the end (only if the rest of the book has been read), which readers can learn from.

 

I hear what you are saying though Michelle. I like to read something different, at least from the last few books I have read. I have not been put off books because of predictability, as I still enjoy the journey, rather, I have been put off books because the journey itself is boring and does nothing to capture my attention.

[Michelle]

I'm not so sure it's the ending so much with me, but what else the book has to offer. I went off crime books, as I said before, and I now seem to be off horror books.. I started reading The Secret of Crickley Hall, and just kinda felt that I'd read it all before.. horrible person kills some kids, and now the spirits are haunting the house.. nothing new.

 

I still say I'm weird!

[Icecream]

Maybe you have read too much of that stuff and need a break, or maybe a different slant. You may not be off the genres completely. Certan genres are very predictable though and I can see why it would be easy to go off crime for example.

[angerball]

I've read several books (such as crime/thrillers) in which I know the good guys always win, but that doesn't detract from my enjoyment; often there is a pretty good story between the beginning and the end.

 

I don't know what to suggest, Michelle. Perhaps you are just in a slump at the moment?

[KW]

Not necessarily -- it can be comforting. However, that said, I just started--and finished ( after peeking at the end and predicting the end ) of THE ROAD.

 

The tone, the language, the dark quality of the book told me it would be a downer. Sure enough, I guessed the end, double checked it and put it down 25 pages into it.

 

KW

[wrathofkublakhan]

Well, I think some predictably is necessary: I mean, the hero has to kiss the girl in the end! Don't we want justice served and know that the villain got his own?

 

Yet, I can understand some people getting tired simply from reading the same type of books over and over again. Usually in a mystery it won't be a stranger sneaking about, it'll be a character that our sleuth interacts with: so we anticipate, narrow it down to two or three; when the solution is given we felt we knew it all along. I mean, Red Herrings exist for a reason - a well written mystery should surprise us but we should at least get it.

 

Sure, there is a lot of dime store crap out there. There must be a million publishing houses now. Yet, when I read The Time Travelers Wife - I had no idea what would happen even though I had been told throughout the book what would happen!

 

Maybe the lesson is: stick with novels and avoid cookbook genre trash that some author spits out in six weeks. Some guys (like Agatha Christie and Louis L'Amour) published a LOT of books, up to a hundred I'd guess; and these were pretty good authors in my opinion -- however, certainly predictable once you've read the first twenty.

[Renniemist]

I'm having trouble getting into books at the moment, and I think half the problem is that I'm starting some, and can see almost straight away where it's heading. I know that there are only so many genres/storylines etc, and it seems to me that there's not so many authors writing the unusual.

 

Obviously it's the journey that's important, but I really enjoy something different. Is there anyone like this.. have you ever been put off of a book because it looks predictable?

 

 

I am having the same problem at the moment Michele. I know I have started a good book but for some reason I am reluctant to proceed with it. I feel it is going to be predictable. This is the third Sarah Waters book that I have read. I really want to go on with it; I think I am just in the wrong mood. (The Night Watch by Sarah Waters it has had some good reviews on here.)

 

 

 

I have set it aside meantime and will go back to it soon I hope.

[angerball]

Well, I think some predictably is necessary: I mean, the hero has to kiss the girl in the end! Don't we want justice served and know that the villain got his own?

 

Actually, this makes me think of Campbell Armstrong's books. I got into them about 10 years ago, but after reading about 3 of them, I realized that in all of them

there's a twist at the end where the "hero" dies

. Well, talk about off-putting; I haven't been able to read any of his books since, because I know that the exact same thing will happen. That's the kind of predictability that will put me off. It's odd though - I'll still generally read any straight forward "good vs evil" book, even though I can guess in the end that the good guys win. Go figure!

[kitty]

Yes I find it spoils it. I used to read all the Jill Mansell books, but because of that reason I dont bother anymore. I must admit though, im not really good at guessing endings, but then again I dont really think about it much really.

[Icecream]

Predictability of writing style spoils books. That is why I stopped reading John Grishams.

[Liz]

Sometimes I don't mind if the ending of a book is predictable. I'm thinking more about crime and thriller books. Some of the Agatha Christie ones can be predictable, but that doesn't really spoil it for me too much. If the story is good then that can 'soften the blow', if you like, of having a predictable book.

 

If I were to go through a phase of reading predicable books then that would probably annoy me quite a bit, but as I don't come across many predictable books that often, then I don't mind the odd one here and there.

[wrathofkublakhan]

I'll make one last appeal for comfort reading.

 

A predictable story doesn't offend me, a well written ending that I've been hoping for is something that satisfys on an emotional level - and, I think, in the end, what following a story is all about.

[pontalba]

I'm having trouble getting into books at the moment, and I think half the problem is that I'm starting some, and can see almost straight away where it's heading. I know that there are only so many genres/storylines etc, and it seems to me that there's not so many authors writing the unusual.

 

Obviously it's the journey that's important, but I really enjoy something different. Is there anyone like this.. have you ever been put off of a book because it looks predictable?

You know about 3 years ago I found myself in the same predicament. I'd pick up a book, and was bored after 30 or 40 pages. That is when I knew I had to break out of my comfort zone. Up until then mostly all I was interested in was history [both fictional and non-fiction] and mysteries.

That is when I discovered Nabokov. Lolita was waaay out of my comfort zone, and at first I had to be dragged kicking and screaming into it. But once ensconced....oh yes! All of Nabokov...the prose is just so heartrendingly beautiful! But I am not necessarily saying read Nabokov [really! ] but I am saying pick up something totally different from what you are used to and stick with it, it could be the one. Now I read so many more authors than I ever dreamed I would!

 

Explore!

[Echo]

I don't mind some predictability. Sometimes it can be comforting, that feeling that things are happening as they should. If writing is too formulaic, however, it can feel a bit stale. For instance, the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice became so formulaic, I can't read them anymore. Each book was almost the same story, over and over. On the other hand, though, writing that breaks every rule doesn't appeal to me. I find authors like Rick Moody to be almost distressing in their unpredictability. As a reader, I want to have at least an idea of what's going on. So, it's really a balance that I'm looking for.

[Liz]

I don't mind some predictability. Sometimes it can be comforting, that feeling that things are happening as they should.

 

I would agree with that. The comfort side of a predictable book is nice to have every now and then.

[Chimera]

For example, Virginia Andrews - you can pretty much guarantee that it'll be a story about a young girl brought up in a family she later discovers is not her own, only to discover her real family is well-off. She'll then go and stay with them and will fall prey to a male relative and have a child. Through all this, the person she always thought of as her brother will have always fancied her and she's been fighting her "un-natural" feelings for him. When they discover that they are not really brother and sister they end up together, raising the child that resulted through the incestuous relationship together as their own. History then repeats itself through several sequels, and then a prequel is brought out showing that the villain of the first book was made that way because of a relationship gone awry. They are all exactly the same.

 

*cracks up* I don't know that author Kell, but you've definitely put me off ever touching one of her books... In a good way *laughs*

 

For me I guess predictability depends on the quality of a book: if it is really well written, if the journey in itself is interesting, I wont mind the ending being predictible. But sometimes books only rely on the suspens they generate with twists and turns and don't have much else to offer... Predictibility spoils them.

 

But I wouldn't apply that to to 'known mechanisms' such as 'the criminal getting caught in crime stories': of course we know from the start that he will be, and the book does rely very much on suspens, but the important thing is to know who he is and why he did it, no?

 

When I read Waiting by Ha Jin recently I accidently saw a spoiler which summed up the way it ends. At first I thought it would spoil it for me, but it didn't: first because it's a really well written book which is all about the journey, and second because eventhough I knew the 'rough shape' of the ending I had no idea how the characters woud get there or what significance it would really have...

 

So predictibility can be a very fickle thing.

[BookJumper]

It depends on the kind of book, and predictability. If I can tell on page one of a murder mystery that the butler did it, then naturally I'd be put off. On the other hand, some class predictability as people getting their just deserts - which works fine for a certain type of book, especially ones with their roots in myth. Some criticise the way in which Neil Gaiman ties his plotlines up so neatly, yet the fact that everything ends more or less as it should is a great comfort for me in these uncertain times plus he writes so well I'm not that bothered about having a "whoa!" end twist.