Going the other way

I’m still coping with real life by watching Norwegian teen dramas, but I’ve noticed one thing about the one I’m on (Skam) that is interesting from a writing (and viewing) perspective: it never does the expected thing.

Whenever you think the characters are going to resolve something, the storyline goes the completely opposite way and makes it worse for them.

From a plotting perspective, I’ve heard this described as turning “but fortunately …” into “oh, shit.”

That concept really works to make an engaging story. It makes the show obsessively watchable because it’s unpredictable, the stakes keep getting raised for the characters, and the way I (they?) think things are going to turn out never is the way they actually do … at least not until the very, very end.

I have a habit of writing and working things out too quickly because I want the characters to get to a happy ending. But it’s much more interesting to make them work for it.

Screenshot of Henrik Holm and Tarjei Sandvik Moe in Norway’s Skam