Random Writing Tips – Flubs

 

Nobody is perfect.  How often have you been talking with friends and somehow mispronounce a word you’ve said a million times before?  Or how often have you had to sneeze while on a date?  Stuff like that happens in reality all the time.  But we rarely see it in fiction.

If you’re watching a movie and a character mispronounces a word, nine times out of ten it’s to show that they’re nervous.  Probably while asking out their crush.  And if anyone sneezes, it’s for some plot reason, like they’re trying to hide from the bad guys.  The main reason for this, in my opinion, is for … who knows how long writers have been told that if some scene, or bit of exposition, or dialogue doesn’t advance the plot, it should be cut.  On one hand this is good advice, because if you spent page after page describing in detail a character getting in their car and driving twenty minutes to work, it would be extremely boring.  But on the other hand, after reading hundreds of stories where EVERYTHING IS IMPORTANT, readers have been trained to expect EVERYTHING TO BE IMPORTANT.  And realistic flubs and sneezes don’t advance the story.

Having characters flub lines or whatever can be useful in writing, other than showing they’re nervous.  I can imagine a story where a character makes three or four flubs.  At first the reader wonders why the writer included them when they are of no importance.  But when they can’t figure it out, they may chalk it up to just an odd writing style.  So when the next plot heavy flub happens, they just read by it and don’t think anything about it.  And when they do realize there was a plot reason for the latest flub, they may go back and reread the story to find the reasons for the earlier flubs.  Of course, as with every writing trick, there is risk in this.  A reader may decide they don’t care for this odd writing style, or they may get disillusioned when they can’t find a plot reason for every flub. 

The origin of this post is a random scene I half-remember in a book I read maybe thirty years ago.  A character did a very realistic thing that served no purpose to the story.  And I was left wondering why did the author bother to write that.  At least, if there was a purpose for it, my teenage self didn’t pick up on it.  Over the years I’ve often thought I should reread the book, just so I can find this scene and figure out the meaning behind it.  But it’s never been a priority, and I admit I’m a tad afraid that if I did reread the book, I’d find the scene and realize there was an obvious reason for it, but I was too stupid to figure it out. 

Having something THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT in your story may make your story memorable.  But it can also make the reader wonder why the writer is wasting their time with something that’s not important.  It’s an interesting trick, but one that should probably be used very rarely.

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Image from Pixabay.