Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Nathan,
I've written a novel, started querying and have had three requests for full manuscripts and two partials. Before I reached this point, I ran it through my writer's group twice and had ten beta readers. Of those ten betas, all of them attempted to predict the plot/outcome. Each told me along the way that he/she knew, was certain how it was going to end, yet all were wrong. If the reader thinks the plot is predictable, will he continue to read on long enough to find out how wrong he really is? I can't decide if what I've done is a good thing or a bad thing.
What are your thoughts?
Tammy
http://www.TammySetzerDenton.com

Wow! I think I got my question answered today. I entered the ABNA contest and one of my Vine Reviewers went on and on about how predictable and old my story was. In fact, he (?) was kind of nasty about it. However, he proceeded to guess the wrong ending. He had a 5000 word excerpt to work from. (Almost equal to the excerpt on my website). Based on what he thought, I'm not sure he would have continued to read any further to find out whether he was right or wrong. I would still like your input if possible.

www.TammySetzerDenton.com

Well, a plot can still be predictable even if there's something unexpected in the end. If you're hearing a lot of the same feedback from lots of different people I'd definitely take it into consideration.