O is for Objectives, Obstacles, and Outcomes

I had read many books in my life before I discovered I wanted to write fiction. Here are some of the ones which are memorable for me. Check them out if you like. It is my belief the books we read contribute to the development of our psyches. I also invite you to research your timeline of memorable stories and tell me if they have contributed to the development of your spirit.

Sneeches on Beaches, age 4 

Curious George, age 6 

Corduroy, age 7 

Where the Wild Things Are, age 10 

Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, age 12 

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, age 14 

David Copperfield, age 15 

1984, age 16 

Various Harlequin Romances and occasional erotica, ages 15-24

Misery, age 25 

Dolores Claiborne, age 28 

The Alienist, age 30 

False Memory, age 38

From the Corner of His Eye, age 42 

What was profound at a particular age isn't necessarily profound later on in life, but if it sticks with you, there’s a reason. Something in that story spoke to you. So go the stepping stones in our understanding of literature and fiction. Why have these stories been ingrained in my memory for so many years? What did I yearn for and what kept me reading to the point I got it and kept it? While delving deeper into my thoughts, I pondered closure. And then I realized I still had not come up with a topic for the letter O.

Objectives

When I start my journey with a set of prose, I expect to know what the objective is, whether it's character development, a vessel for back-story, an introduction of a new character, or a plot twist. A reader anticipates these things in order to decide how to spend time reading that chapter. To coddle or to skim? Sike. I never skim.

If I like the protagonist, I want to read about her development. So, if I know the objective of the chapter is to introduce a situation which will tax my protagonist, I'll be more likely to stay engaged and immerse myself into the chapter.

Don't wait until mid-chapter to reveal the objective. It’s like treading water and the hum drum pace will give me a chance to dog ear the book and come back later. If I know the objective right away, I'm not likely to dog ear until the end of the chapter because I'm focused on the objective. If your reader dog ears in the middle of the chapter, the last impression they have of your chapter is what? There was no objective, what's the point in returning? That would be terrible!

Every chapter should have an objective and it should be apparent from the beginning what that objective is. You can vary the types of objectives from chapter to chapter, whether introducing a new character or plot twist, etc, so that you have a mixture which appeals to the diversity in your readership. Not every reader wants to follow your world descriptions, and not every reader cares about your protagonist's development. Some may just care about learning how the plot unwinds or picking up clues as to who did it. I agree, lazy readers!

Obstacles

Where you have an objective in your chapter, you must also have an obstacle. Otherwise, you may as well be writing an entry for a recipe book. Do recipes tell you how to deal with a grease fire? Or what to do when your soufflé collapses? These are obstacles which may occur in your quest to building a meal. Excluding these possibilities will not harm your recipe. However, excluding obstacles in your chapters will harm your fictional stories.

 Obstacles need to be present in fiction because you don't want to leave your reader an ending with a drabness for which you will never be forgiven. You want to introduce your objective to an obstacle in order to create conflict and friction for your characters. Together they create results—surprising and delightful results. To keep from having "expected" results, and thus boring the hell out of your reader, you must have obstacles.

Contrary to my line of work as a software developer, where expected results are the far better outcome, fiction definitely is more rewarding when the results are skewed.

Outcomes

This was originally titled Oh Nos. What are Oh Nos? Something I made up to have a third O word to share. Seriously. Imagine your favorite protagonist met an obstacle you felt they might not be prepared to deal with. You go, "Oh no!" Then after I wrote this third O element, I realized I was discussing Outcomes and so now my short lived “Oh Nos” is obsolete.

What is an outcome? They will survive the ordeal, or they will perish. Not every obstacle results in an outcome this extreme, but in some form or another, they either have a positive outcome or a negative one. By the time I reach the end of a chapter, I need to know the outcome of the objective. It's very important to me in moving to the next chapter, because if you don't have closure in one chapter, at least closure for the chapter's objective, then how is the reader supposed to trust you with future chapters?

If the objective is for Nancy to retrieve a magic scroll and the obstacle is she becomes lost in the forest, you absolutely cannot end the chapter at this point. She must fight her way out of the forest. She must retrieve the scroll, yes, but the outcome of her meeting that objective must further the story or end it. She retrieved the scroll. What's the outcome? Did the magic scroll unleash an evil spirit she must fight in the next chapter? Did she uncover a healing potion she will need in another chapter along the way? That outcome is what ends the chapter and invites a new chapter.

So, what makes you stick with a story, chapter by chapter? Have you noticed a pattern in the stories which rivet you to your seat and stick in your mind throughout a lifetime?

Visit my Alphabet Links:

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z