Pulling the rug out from under the audience

[Tom]

As any of you who've read my writing knows, I like subverting cliches. A lot. Recently I've been looking back on the cringe-worthy first versions of my high fantasy project, Southerner, and thinking about all the cliches I used without question back then. Doing so sparked the inspiration to reincorporate those old cliches that I eradicated--and subvert them.

So, for instance:

Mages use a special language to shape intention into spells when channeling magic. Later we find out that the way magic is used all depends on an individual/culture's construction of it, and only one culture does this.

What the reader assumed to be the two most powerful, influential nations in the region are really the isolated, backwater territories of a vast empire that ignores them.

The main protagonist is assumed to be brave and selfless, volunteering to undertake a journey to save his people. Later it's revealed that he is a disappointment to his father, dangerously close to being declared illegitimate, and only chose to go so he could improve his public image.

The rebels fighting a powerful tyrant are really an army of imperialists trying to capture a city of runaway slaves and other persecuted groups.


All of these examples rely on the reader's preconceived notions of fantasy fiction to work as they are supposed to. As I was wondering how to rewrite Southerner to make it more unique and original, I realized that playing with this sense of formula was more interesting than writing something original straight. I wanted to capture that feeling you get when a story you think is going to fall into cliche doesn't. I suppose what I want to do is skirt just on the edge between subversive and wholly original.

I feel like a lot of the time, the books we choose to read are what we feel comfortable with. I know I feel at more at home if certain tropes or cliches are in play. The biggest goal for revamping Southerner is to create a story that starts off in your comfort zone and as the story progresses, makes increasingly pronounced and radical shifts away from that comfort zone. As the thread title says, I want to pull the rug out from under my audience--not in one swift tug, which is jarring, but just slowly enough that at the turning point of the story they'll look down and be surprised when they see the rug is gone.

My question is, what are some possible pitfalls of this? How do you think it should be executed? Any more ideas for subversion? (Also, if anyone has any resources for writing this kind of story, please share!)

 

[glutton]

I think the subversions should be hinted at so their reveals aren't too jarring, and a possible pitfall is if the clues are too subtle making the reader feel blindsided.

In my current almost finished WIP an apprentice healer joins the leads on their adventure, they assume she can't fight and needs to be protected in dangerous situations, but while she lets them think that she is in fact an absurdly skilled and powerful warrior who became a healer because she's tired of killing and is way better at fighting than both of them (put together lol). I hint at this by way of her unusually fearless attitude and 'suspicious' feats such as falling into a 30' pit out of the heroes' sight and emerging unscathed, miraculously deflecting a crossbow bolt with a 'panicked' wave of her staff, and somehow saving the heroes from multiple building sized monsters while they are knocked out.

In a planning future project I will try to set up the love interest of the male hero as a 'token female warrior' complete with sometimes just standing there watching while the hero fights strong enemies, and a female among the main villain's generals who seems destined for a designated girl fight with her... but then the hero fights the female general and kills her while the love interest fights the main villain... and stalemates him or wins, showing she is not second class at all. She just let the hero fight strong enemies solo before because he has a more personal grudge against them, but when push comes to shove she might well be the best. XD I'll probably give her a reputation as being a beast in-story so when she doesn't perform impressively the reader will think it was false hype, but then the hype turns out justified after all.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I think Sanderson had a good example in his lectures of something like this. Another author wrote a book where it all seemed to be going by the trope book, and then he broke all the tropes. So what happened, why didn't the book sell?

Here's a total paraphrase: All the people who like breaking the expectations yawned and put it down because it seemed ordinary, while all those people who wanted their read predictable got so far then stopped reading, dissatisfied, as it didn't meet expectations.

 

[Queshire]

Subverting cliches just to subvert them doesn't seem ideal to me. I think the best result would freely mix subverting tropes, tropes that have been twisted without being completely subverted and tropes played straight.

I agree with Glutton that hints should be laid before the reveal. I think your goal should be to aim for a moment where it all comes together for the reader with the reveal or where readers get the satisfaction of having called it if they figure it out before the reveal.

Demes also raises a good point. It's important to establish what the story is about relatively quickly and give out enough treats to string the reader along even if the big reveal comes later.

 

[Michael K. Eidson]

As an older reader who has read and enjoyed several of the classics that gave rise to fantasy tropes, I now prefer reading stories that break at least some of them. I like such stories best when I can tell from the outset that tropes are being broken. I might not read far enough to discover tropes are being broken if you don't break at least one early on, figuring that the story is more of the same old thing. It's not that I'm consciously analyzing a story as I begin to read it to see if any tropes are broken. It's a subconscious thing, really. I just want to read something I've not read several times already.

 

[La Volpe]

I think Sanderson had a good example in his lectures of something like this. Another author wrote a book where it all seemed to be going by the trope book, and then he broke all the tropes. So what happened, why didn't the book sell?

Here's a total paraphrase: All the people who like breaking the expectations yawned and put it down because it seemed ordinary, while all those people who wanted their read predictable got so far then stopped reading, dissatisfied, as it didn't meet expectations.

Yes, exactly this. If you start off by promising the readers a comfortable, predictable story and then subvert all the tropes, you'll likely lose both types of readers.

 

[Penpilot]

This is going to sound a bit silly, but to avoid what Demesnedenoir mentioned, I think the trick is you have to give the audience what they expect but different. Meaning, you have to satisfy the expectations you set up, at least to a certain point, and then figure out how to push them into more unique direction

Where readers get mad is if they feel like they've been tricked into reading a story about X by being sold/promised that it's a story about Y.

I remember a friend telling me about the time he watched a Korean movie that started out as a sweet romantic comedy, then suddenly twisted into some bazaar twisted horror movie. He said F that movie.

 

[Tom]

Good point, Penpilot! Maybe I shouldn't have said I wanted to subvert cliches--I want to put a twist on them. So certain elements of the cliche will still be present, but not played completely straight.

Would it also help if the cliches are subverted early in the story? I mean, the longer something is there the more comfortable you get with it, so it might be jarring to suddenly and completely flip around something the reader came to see as a constant. Earlier in the book it would be there just long enough to get familiar with, but not that it's an innate part of the story in the reader's mind.

 

[Nimue]

I think it could be tricky, but hinting at your intentions early would clue the reader into where things are going--even if they're riding along with the stereotypes until you reveal otherwise. You can make that ride a little uneasy. Have a trusted character doubt the intentions of the rebel group, or a foreign scholar talk about the wider world, even if the POV character doesn't believe them.

Which ties into my main feeling: this needs to be genuine and significant in the story. If there's a whiff of the author being clever for the sake of it, or purposefully trying to fool the reader without satisfying story payoff, that's going to hurt reader investment. So the rebel group is unethical--is there a character that learns this the hard way? Is this a plot point? Is the fact that the countries are on the periphery something that comes into view when a character journeys out into the wider world? Is the main character's motives something that he's in denial about, or trying to deceive others about? I don't think it's enough to just hoodwink the reader, it needs to have story repercussions, and hopefully emotional effects beyond feeling duped. I don't think any of these ideas are bad, but that there could be more to them. (Which may be already in your head--that's the trouble with trying to present story ideas succinctly with a question for others) ^^;;

 

[Penpilot]

Would it also help if the cliches are subverted early in the story? I mean, the longer something is there the more comfortable you get with it, so it might be jarring to suddenly and completely flip around something the reader came to see as a constant.

I think this would help. It's about setting up certain expectations ASAP. It's like saying to the reader in this world these types of things are possible. Now is the time to turn back if it's not to your tastes. As for spoiling surprises or showing your hand, IMHO, it's about the journey not the destination.

Surprise reveals are overrated, IMHO.

 

[skip.knox]

One of my favorite authors from my youth is Robert Sheckley. He played with conventional themes a lot, nearly always for humor (it's far harder to do that in a serious novel). But he would let you know right up front he was going to change things around. Within the first few pages, I as reader would know that this author was going to be shuffling the deck, so I could sit back and enjoy the show. He promised to surprise me, and he delivered. Do that, and it'll be fine.

To me, every story is an implicit contract with the reader. As author, I can do as I please, but I don't get to break the contract, because I'm the one who established it. That's really why opening pages are so important--they set up the contract. But don't set me up for one kind of story and then pull out the rug just because you've learned how to pull rugs. Sure, it's funny and everyone will have a fine laugh, but I won't be coming back.

 

[Peat]

I agree with what everyone's said about the risks of giving people Y after promising them X and how to get around that.

I'd like to add a secondary thing though and that is if you're constantly pulling the rug out from under readers, it ceases to be a surprise and it ceases to get the same reaction. Better to go for a few big rug pulls that change everything than subverting everything left right and centre.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Personally, I think the best advice is to ignore tropes (either following or subverting) and tell the story how it's meant to be told, and do it well. Setting out to do X, whether it is pro-trope, anti-trope, theme, whatever, tends to upend the story in one way or another But that's just me.