I guess the uncertainty is to keep the reader in suspense in an expected fashion of storytelling with x happened then y happened which caused z to happen. The character's goals/desires color the way the reader reads into these events.
Vagueness, at least how I read it, is the character experiencing events with no desire/goal setup at the beginning. So the reader can't track if these events are good or bad. I think the way to avoid it would be very clear setup at the opening of the scene.
The 1-5 scenarios described reminded me of yes, but & no, and. I use that one a lot in the outline, but without an outline,I have to go back add the yes but and no and's. I can't imagine maintaining momentum with a simple yes and no.
Thank you for the article! I look forward to these!
The uncertainty and vagueness was a little jumbled if I think of it from a reader's perspective, but I understand it from a writer's perspective. It makes sense that to me, I never want my character to be certain of any outcomes of their choices even though I want them to know that there are choices (even if the choice is as simple a plain vs flavoured water). Thank you for sharing.
Thanks so much for your thoughts! I agree totally on your points about vagueness vs uncertainty. Definitely need to do a better job of wording that in future 😅
I'm not saying it's bad, I've been thinking about this all week because it's true. My best work have always come from clear choices with uncertain outcomes, I think it's more that a lot of people use uncertainty and vagueness so interchangeably that it gets mixed up, I know I do.
I've been thinking of it from a reader stand point. I want both choices to have equal stakes for each outcome (uncertain outcomes) and not just having the story force me to do all the work because I as a reader can't tell what the character will lose or gain with each choice (ambiguous outcomes).
I tend to build toward a goal, where the goalpost constantly shifts and the protagonist has to adjust. I write each chapter with a starting point, and at the end, something is about to happen but it picks up in the next chapter. The problem walks into the room, they square off, and the chapter ends. Now you have to keep going to find out who wins the scene. It might be the wrong approach, but it's a lot of fun to write. In the first draft, I don't exactly know what's going to happen either.
I was struck by your distinction between uncertainty and vagueness. Is uncertainty when the writer knows whether the character has made progress, but the reader doesn't, so the reader keeps reading to find out? And then vagueness is when the writer hasn't figured out how this outcome affects the character, so the reader doesn't sense that there's a payoff for continuing to read?
It's interesting to think about this in terms of reader psychology rather than a story "happening to" the characters.
Honestly reader psychology has been a game changer for me. Have you read Wired for Story? It's brilliant
Struggling to explain the vagueness vs uncertainty thing. It's been a long week 😅
Uncertainty is the tension between two (sometimes three) possible outcomes. While reading, we unconsciously feel like the character might win or lose, and have at least some understanding of what the consequences might be for that character. What they might lose
With vagueness, we don't have any idea of where the story might go next, what counts as "winning" or "losing", what the character actually wants and what's on the line if they fail
One tells the reader: this, this, or that might happen, then plays with it. The other dumps the reader in the middle of nowhere without a map or a plan
And I'm still not doing a good job of explaining 😂
I think your explanation makes sense. really have found this distinction so helpful and intriguing.
I was just reading a book, and for the first 1/3 of it, the characters made zero progress solving the mystery. No clues, nothing (which of course wasn't very interesting to me as a reader, either).
Then one character had a blinding insight that the culprit might be the villain from the previous book. Five minutes later, a call to the police inspector confirmed that person had indeed escaped from prison. So we went from vagueness to total certainty in the space of two pages. And now I'm wondering what my motivation is to read the next 2/3 of the book...
Maybe if conflict or challenge is like a gas pedal, uncertainty could be like a gear shifter, shifting momentum up or down... Because there are rhythms to it, right? Sometimes more and sometimes less as some things become clear but then new questions are raised? So interesting!
Also can completely see why that book left you feeling a bit flat. Ultimately, novels always need to generate tension from SOMEWHERE. It can be character goals, a secret they’re unravelling, an idea…but there needs to be something
A lot of writers think “I need them to not find out about the bad guy until a third of the way through” so they end up stuffing that first third with a whole bunch of nothing, then have the realisation arrive out of nowhere in the moment that it’s needed
That kind of flat conflict will leave a story dead in the water often as not
I guess the uncertainty is to keep the reader in suspense in an expected fashion of storytelling with x happened then y happened which caused z to happen. The character's goals/desires color the way the reader reads into these events.
Vagueness, at least how I read it, is the character experiencing events with no desire/goal setup at the beginning. So the reader can't track if these events are good or bad. I think the way to avoid it would be very clear setup at the opening of the scene.
The 1-5 scenarios described reminded me of yes, but & no, and. I use that one a lot in the outline, but without an outline,I have to go back add the yes but and no and's. I can't imagine maintaining momentum with a simple yes and no.
Thank you for the article! I look forward to these!
That is a good way to put it, thank you so much!
Yessssss, this is exactly what I was getting at! Thanks for doing a better job of explaining it than I could ha ha 🙏
The uncertainty and vagueness was a little jumbled if I think of it from a reader's perspective, but I understand it from a writer's perspective. It makes sense that to me, I never want my character to be certain of any outcomes of their choices even though I want them to know that there are choices (even if the choice is as simple a plain vs flavoured water). Thank you for sharing.
Thanks so much for your thoughts! I agree totally on your points about vagueness vs uncertainty. Definitely need to do a better job of wording that in future 😅
I'm not saying it's bad, I've been thinking about this all week because it's true. My best work have always come from clear choices with uncertain outcomes, I think it's more that a lot of people use uncertainty and vagueness so interchangeably that it gets mixed up, I know I do.
I've been thinking of it from a reader stand point. I want both choices to have equal stakes for each outcome (uncertain outcomes) and not just having the story force me to do all the work because I as a reader can't tell what the character will lose or gain with each choice (ambiguous outcomes).
I like that, thinking of it as clear choices for the characters to make.
I tend to build toward a goal, where the goalpost constantly shifts and the protagonist has to adjust. I write each chapter with a starting point, and at the end, something is about to happen but it picks up in the next chapter. The problem walks into the room, they square off, and the chapter ends. Now you have to keep going to find out who wins the scene. It might be the wrong approach, but it's a lot of fun to write. In the first draft, I don't exactly know what's going to happen either.
That sounds like so much fun!
I was struck by your distinction between uncertainty and vagueness. Is uncertainty when the writer knows whether the character has made progress, but the reader doesn't, so the reader keeps reading to find out? And then vagueness is when the writer hasn't figured out how this outcome affects the character, so the reader doesn't sense that there's a payoff for continuing to read?
It's interesting to think about this in terms of reader psychology rather than a story "happening to" the characters.
Honestly reader psychology has been a game changer for me. Have you read Wired for Story? It's brilliant
Struggling to explain the vagueness vs uncertainty thing. It's been a long week 😅
Uncertainty is the tension between two (sometimes three) possible outcomes. While reading, we unconsciously feel like the character might win or lose, and have at least some understanding of what the consequences might be for that character. What they might lose
With vagueness, we don't have any idea of where the story might go next, what counts as "winning" or "losing", what the character actually wants and what's on the line if they fail
One tells the reader: this, this, or that might happen, then plays with it. The other dumps the reader in the middle of nowhere without a map or a plan
And I'm still not doing a good job of explaining 😂
I think your explanation makes sense. really have found this distinction so helpful and intriguing.
I was just reading a book, and for the first 1/3 of it, the characters made zero progress solving the mystery. No clues, nothing (which of course wasn't very interesting to me as a reader, either).
Then one character had a blinding insight that the culprit might be the villain from the previous book. Five minutes later, a call to the police inspector confirmed that person had indeed escaped from prison. So we went from vagueness to total certainty in the space of two pages. And now I'm wondering what my motivation is to read the next 2/3 of the book...
Maybe if conflict or challenge is like a gas pedal, uncertainty could be like a gear shifter, shifting momentum up or down... Because there are rhythms to it, right? Sometimes more and sometimes less as some things become clear but then new questions are raised? So interesting!
That’s a really interesting way of looking at it!
Also can completely see why that book left you feeling a bit flat. Ultimately, novels always need to generate tension from SOMEWHERE. It can be character goals, a secret they’re unravelling, an idea…but there needs to be something
A lot of writers think “I need them to not find out about the bad guy until a third of the way through” so they end up stuffing that first third with a whole bunch of nothing, then have the realisation arrive out of nowhere in the moment that it’s needed
That kind of flat conflict will leave a story dead in the water often as not