The Return is Real!

I woke up this morning thinking about the layers I need to add to the rough draft of MOU. This is a good thing, because I'd been afraid that my return to writing over the holiday break was a fluke, that when school kicked back in, I'd be mired in the land of not-being-able-to-write again.

This is a really good thing, because I need to kick the writing in gear this weekend. I'm working on an online read to offer potential readers, and I need to post the first chapter (of eight) Monday. I need to finish layering MOU, get it to the CPs so I can get it to my editor. And I really need to start plotting my next WIP. I'm thinking it will be the town bad-girl and younger, screw-up cop story. It could be the prodigal daughter and chicken farmer story. I could do the secret baby story I'd started, but I'm thinking it may finish it for another online read -- the plot line just reads short to me, for some reason.

Maybe I need a poll . . .

The DH and I watched a couple of episodes of Jake 2.0 on SciFi last night. It's an interesting concept, a rather geeky young tech support guy in the NSA who is infected by nanotechnology, which gives him "super-technical" powers. The thing is, by the end of the first episode, I'd figured out which woman would be his "he works with her and there's sexual tension" colleague, even while he's chasing after an ex-girlfriend. And by the middle of the second episode, I'd figured out how the plot of that show was going to go and I was yawning. I knew when he was brainstorming exotic undercover identities for a diplomatic party, what they were going to make him do -- pretend to be a waiter.

I knew the old girlfriend would turn up at said party.

I knew the double agent would turn on her ex-lover, the experienced agent who mentors Jake.

Too predictable. Make it different, I wanted to yell at the writers. Don't take the easy route. Make it exciting!

That's something I worry about in my own writing, that my twists and turns have been done before, that the characters are too stock, that the reader will see what's coming. I work hard to throw in those red herrings and make the twists and turns believable. I try to develop characters who, even though they may approach an archetype, are unique in presentation and come off as real people.

What movies and television shows have been too predictable for you? And which ones turn the predictions on their ear?