Let It Take Me Straight To You

Sorry I've been super lagging on the posts, weekend was crazy. Friday I worked until nearly 9 PM, so I was in no mood for basically anything once I got home but going straight to sleep. Saturday was tons of fun- went to a drag club/restaurant for a friend's co-worker's birthday and it was a great time! Wasn't expecting it to be as funny or as amazingly constructed as it was. Plus food was great, and it's always nice going out and meeting new people. Especially when cute boys are involved. Cute SINGLE boys ;) Sunday was just a chill day. Did a bit of work, finished reading Chey's WIP (or what she's sent me so far), started AG Carpenter's WIP (Amazing so far! It's taking me awhile just because of life, but hopefully I can get it all read this week!), and cracked open Jen Lancaster's newest memoir, My Fair Lazy and I'm already in love with it. I'm bummed she's not coming to Miami on this book tour, but hopefully she'll extend it because I would LOVELOVELOVE to meet her.

Going to that drag club actually gave me some insight on life/writing, namely the importance (and relevance) of expectations. So often we go into a situation, or a book, or our writing, with a set expectation in mind. Sometimes, reality ends up being EXACTLY what we expected. But sometimes, it is NOTHING like we expect. Both situations give us knowledge- either by opening up our mind to new things, or by reinforcing beliefs.

Being an edisextrix, I have TONS of expectations when I start reading a WIP or new novel/story/writing, and, just like in life, sometimes it's good when literary works agree with my expectations and sometimes it's bad.

~Bad expectations: Being able to preempt the plot. Note, I said PLOT. If the things that happen in the work are totally cliched and have been done over and over...well, I'm probably not the only one that will notice. And if it'd suck to have an editor or agent push aside your work because they've read it a hundred times over, and ten of those are currently on the NYT Best Seller List, then I'm sure having a reader think it's trite or overworked won't feel nice either.

-Good expectations: Being able to preempt a character's emotions. Again, this is completely different from the plot. I may not know what is going to happen, but knowing how a character will react once something happens SHOULD happen. That is the sign of a truly developed, round character. Naturally, there should be some mystery and intrigue to the character- it's what keeps them in the fictional world, even though they may totally be able to exist in the real world- but that's how a reader can really go along for the journey along with the character.

Literary works are all about the journey the protagonist takes from beginning to middle to end. While most readers won't be able to say they're American expatriates living in Europe after WWI (a la Jake and co in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises) or battling with their mortality or immortality like Bella Swan in Twilight, we can all at least COMPREHEND the feelings theses characters have. We may not agree, we may not act that way ourselves, we may think they are being completely reckless or immature of inconsiderate, but just the fact that we can put ourselves in their shoes to even begin to wonder what we'd do when faced with that situation, both reaffirms our own beliefs and ways of life, as well as open up our minds to options we never would think we had.

So, at least for myself, I like being able to predict a character's feelings once some event occurs. A necessity, in fact. Preempting the event itself, however, is not good. What's everyone else's stance? What kinds of expectations do you have before reading a new book? Or starting your own new story?


**Post title from Tokio Hotel's "Monsoon". Sometimes those German weirdos can get it right.