Whenever you are writing in a clearly-defined genre (and that is most of the time, in fiction), you have to watch out for too much rather than too little genre conformity.

Remember: the readers know the genre, too. They want more than the outline.

An illustration of the phenomenon is warranted…

I recently read a conventional Western novel by a not-incompetent author. Our newly introduced hero (loner male) checks the whereabouts of a man who once raised him, and just happens to meet the 10-year-old girl who was there at the man’s death.

My reaction was not “ooh, this looks interesting”. It was instead a mighty sigh. I waited for (and received) the inevitable:

1. She explained events which made him even sadder.
2. She wanted to help him get revenge (and needed help herself)
3. She let herself be persuaded to accompany him on his quest.

Well, this is bog-standard for one form of action adventure. So, why did I sigh?

Because I knew there was going to be a does-nothing-for-our-character-development slog until they met up with “the potential love interest character who’s just the right sort to also look after the kid”. (tab, meet slot).

It didn’t matter what the details of the story-telling were between these two points — that was just killing time until the above character development event took place.

And then, of course, there was the completely mandatory 3-5 “oh no”s where the love interest gets to be in peril of making the wrong decision, etc.

And so forth.

My issue isn’t with the actual plot in the raw: Hero-to-be becomes more heroic, collects people to save, learns he’s worthy, acts on his desires, etc. (and so does the love interest). Nothing wrong with that.

My issue is the absolutely obvious (content and timing) of the mechanisms. I don’t need to be bludgoned by the writer’s plot points and plot point preps as though the outline were right there in front of me written in insufficiently invisible ink.

It’s not that I don’t expect a “happily-ever-after” courtship and ending in a genre novel like this. But that achievement isn’t the only reason I read a story. I want all the in-between parts to be equally interesting, not to mention suspenseful, otherwise it’s just empty straw characters coming to an empty straw ending.

You want to see each scene that goes by as normal (for the current characters with their current interests and experience) rather than as required setups for eventual “who could have imagined” developments.

I found myself thinking at various points “It’s about time for the opposition to make its appearance”, or “I see, this is where we introduce the sidekick character who may be able to become a hero later in the series.”

I think a writer needs to make sure the reader focuses on the actions of the characters (in their own context), not on the too-obvious mechanisms of the author to make those actions occur/make sense for a longer story. The writer’s hands should stay invisible (except as a testimony of a good read).

It doesn’t matter if your characters are blind to what will happen to them, if your reader has already been told via too-obvious and limited plotting. It gets to the point that the reader can count “First try-fail, Second try-fail, Third try-fail”, and so on, while speculating what the final count will be. That’s not enough of an uncertainty to drive the reader forward.

Got any good examples of this sort of composition?