{"id":95611,"date":"2023-03-14T21:17:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T01:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=95611"},"modified":"2025-10-03T11:29:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T15:29:28","slug":"subversion-of-expectation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/subversion-of-expectation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Subversion of Expectation: The Source of a Story’s Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the subversion of expectation? How does it keep a story going? How does it impact the audience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the main ingredients in a story is the subversion of expectation. This element is extremely important. Robert McKee maintains that it\u2019s the source of all energy in a story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more to understand what subverting expectations means and how to do it in a story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: This article is part of\u00a0Shortform\u2019s guide to storytelling<\/a>. If you like what you read here, there\u2019s plenty more to check out in the guide!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Constant Subversion of Expectation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of a story is to give the audience the satisfying feeling of discovering meaning about the world. But how exactly does a story accomplish this? According to McKee, to engage an audience\u2019s sense of meaning, a story needs three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. An active protagonist to empathize with<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The constant subversion of expectation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Positive or negative change<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Stories need an active protagonist who constantly makes progress toward a goal. However, if events transpire exactly as the protagonist expects, they would simply achieve that goal, and you wouldn\u2019t have a story. Therefore, the most basic unit of storytelling is this: The protagonist takes a single action toward a goal, and the world reacts in a way the protagonist doesn\u2019t expect<\/strong>, complicating the protagonist\u2019s plan to achieve their goal. This pair of action and reaction is called a beat<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, here\u2019s a beat from Finding Nemo<\/em>: As Marlin watches his son Nemo swim out into dangerous open waters, he yells, \u201cYou\u2019re going to get stuck out there!\u201d in an attempt to scare Nemo back to safety. Angered by his father implying that he\u2019s weak, and determined to prove him wrong, Nemo swims farther out into more dangerous waters. Marlin\u2019s action<\/em> provokes an unexpected reaction<\/em> from Nemo, introducing new complications between Marlin and his goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (Shortform note: The idea of story beats is common among screenwriters, although McKee uses this word in a more specific sense than most. Most screenwriters use beat as a general term to mean \u201csomething that happens in your story.\u201d<\/a> Arguably the most popular use of the word beat comes from Blake Snyder\u2019s screenwriting guide Save the Cat!<\/em><\/a>, which contends that all successful stories follow the same 15 beats. Snyder recommends the use of a \u201cbeat sheet\u201d to outline your screenplay<\/a>, which specifies what events need to happen in your script and what page they should happen on.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How the Subversion of Expectation Impacts the Audience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    McKee asserts that beats of action and unexpected reaction need to occur constantly throughout your story <\/strong>because they engage your audience<\/a> on both an intellectual and emotional level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On an intellectual level, the subversion of expectation piques the audience\u2019s curiosity<\/em><\/strong>. For the majority of beats, the audience and protagonist both have their expectations subverted at the same time, says McKee. <\/strong>Unless the writer has given the audience information that the protagonist doesn\u2019t know (a technique called dramatic irony), each turn of events will surprise the audience just as much as the characters. Thus, since what the audience expected to happen didn\u2019t happen, each beat draws them further into the story as they wonder what\u2019s going to happen next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    McKee explains that the subversion of expectation also engages the audience intellectually by giving them insight<\/em><\/strong>: They realize something about the protagonist\u2019s world that they didn\u2019t know before. To make sense of this surprising information, they think back to what the storyteller has already told them and integrate everything into one cohesive understanding of the world. This worldview revision satisfies the audience on an intellectual level\u2014it feels like they\u2019re solving the puzzle that the writer has laid for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, when Nemo swims farther out to sea, the audience immediately tries to make sense of it by reflecting on what they\u2019ve already seen and thinking, \u201cOh, it makes sense that Nemo is rebelling. From what I\u2019ve seen of him, it\u2019s clear that he resents his father\u2019s overprotectiveness.\u201d Connecting these logical dots is satisfying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On an emotional level, a beat of action and unexpected reaction impacts the audience because of their empathy for the protagonist<\/strong>, McKee explains. When something unexpected happens to the protagonist, they\u2019ll have some kind of emotional reaction, and the audience will feel it just as they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When Surprising Beats Ruin Your Story<\/strong>

    Although surprising beats spark your audience\u2019s curiosity, you shouldn\u2019t try to make your story the most<\/em> unpredictable it can be at all times. Plot twists that invalidate the facts you gave the audience earlier in the story are by nature unpredictable, but they cheapen the meaning of the story so far<\/a> and make the audience feel unfairly manipulated. For example, a movie that ends with the revelation that the entire story was a drug-induced hallucination could be disappointing to the audience.

    Bad plot twists hurt even more if they     spoil the emotional bond audiences have with characters<\/a>. For example, often, writers try to surprise the audience by having characters reveal false identities or hidden motivations. If these new character traits contradict the character the audience has been bonding with for the entire story in an unrealistic way, the audience will be even more upset.

    Furthermore, some degree of predictability in your story can be a good thing. Although all compelling stories involve the subversion of expectation, the surprise itself isn\u2019t entirely     what makes a story compelling<\/a>. Surprise is satisfying also because it gives the audience insight, revealing information that makes the story\u2019s \u201cbig picture\u201d more complex and interesting.

    Research validates this idea. One study shows that readers     enjoy stories more<\/em> when they already know what\u2019s going to happen in them<\/a>. Experiencing a story while knowing its twists doesn\u2019t spoil anything because this foreknowledge helps you see the big picture and appreciate the story as a whole<\/a> while watching<\/em>, which can be more enjoyable than piecing the story together through insight and reflection.

    The fact that stories are compelling even if you know what\u2019s going to happen enables writers to use dramatic irony. Writers intentionally reveal information that\u2019s unknown to the characters to achieve     a number of different effects<\/a>\u2014for example, when the climactic murder of Lester Burnham in American Beauty<\/em> is revealed at the beginning of the film, it makes the audience more likely to empathize with the character, who is initially very unsympathetic.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What is the subversion of expectation? How does it keep a story going? How does it impact the audience? One of the main ingredients in a story is the subversion of expectation. This element is extremely important. Robert McKee maintains that it\u2019s the source of all energy in a story. Read more to understand what subverting expectations means and how to do it in a story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":75848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,9],"tags":[938],"class_list":["post-95611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-psychology","tag-story","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Subversion of Expectation: The Source of a Story's Energy - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The subversion of expectation engages your audience on intellectual and emotional levels. 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