I have a handful of writing mantras and inevitable yet unpredictable is one of them.

Good books push the reader towards an inevitable ending. The writer has set up the thoughts and feelings of the characters, the action, and the description (props, setting) to an inevitable conclusion.

However, that doesn’t mean the ending should be predictable. In fact, it’s better if the ending isn’t.

I’m now going to spoil the ending of a great book to give you an example. If you have any interest in reading Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens DO NOT CONTINUE READING. Spoiler Alert. I am about to reveal the ending. I repeat, do not continue reading if you don’t want to know the conclusion. You’ve been warned.

In Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing, Kya gets away with murder. The entire book you feel sorry for her because the townspeople think she’s a “marsh girl” with no intelligence and little use for empathy. In fact, one man goes so far as attempted abuse. Kya is neither stupid nor unfeeling. She’s quite smart.

There’s a massive murder trial where the defense and the prosecution give arguments. At this point you are so convinced that the townspeople’s judgement is skewed you think they will condemn her. Even though a few of them are finally seeing reason and realizing Kya isn’t the monster they believe she is.

You, as the reader, believe Kya is innocent with all of your heart.

Kya was out of town the night of the murder. She couldn’t possibly have gotten on a bus, maneuvered the marshy waters, killed the man, and returned on a bus to her out-of-town location in the timeframe mentioned.

There is no way Kya did this. But those townspeople are going to think she did. It doesn’t matter that a few of them are starting to be more accepting. The majority will condemn her.

But wait. In a sweep of justice, the townspeople decide she is innocent. The misunderstood “marsh girl” is vindicated. You, as the reader, are rejoicing. And yet.

Owens has provided many examples of Kya’s ability to escape the law. She’s showed us that Kya knows how to maneuver the marsh better than anyone. She’s explained how horrific this man was to Kya. She’s lead you to an inevitable conclusion. Kya did this. Yet, the townspeople, who all throughout the book have dehumanized her, believe her innocent.

Talk about a twist of unpredictability.

For once the townspeople start to see Kya as human, as incapable of murder, and their unexpected acceptance lets Kya escape the rules of society once again. Their unexpected acceptance, something you hoped for throughout the book, allows Kya to get away with murder.

The ending works on so many levels. That’s why inevitable but unpredictable is such a good mantra to follow.

Your reader must believe your conclusion. You must have set it up throughout the book, guiding the characters to this one ending. At the same time you’ve planted just enough decoy routes to make it interesting.

In the Crawdads example, the predictable ending would be Kya’s murder conviction by the townspeople for a crime she didn’t commit. Even though Owens shows you Kya had the skillset to commit the crime, like knowledge of the marsh others didn’t have, Kya could have chosen not to commit it. And the townspeople could have chosen to remain stuck in their judgments.

Instead, we have the opposite. Kya not only had the geographic knowledge necessary to commit the crime, she’s the only person who could do it and not get caught. And the townspeople who spent so many years condemning her are the ones to set her free. The ending is so great, it turns my brain into a pretzel.

I’ll share my other writing mantras in the coming weeks. I have them posted in my office as a reminder of what I want to accomplish in my own writing. They help guide me when I get lost or have writer’s block. They are the qualities I’ve seen great writers employ and the ones I want to cultivate.

What is one of your writing mantras?

Photos by Sinziana Susa and Joanna Kosinska