You watch a movie or TV show, read a novel or short story, and something happens that makes you crazy. A character you like gets killed. A character you like does something despicable. Expectation is built toward an outcome that slots into your understanding of the plot and, boom, a plot twist spins the story off into parts unknown.
You might get upset with the way the story begins to play out. You might get indignant because, by God, you wouldn't write it like that.
Well, perhaps you can tell a better story, but you're not telling this one. When seeing, reading or hearing this one, take note of what is making you crazy, pull out your tool box and tear the story apart until you have identified what it is that is making you crazy. Study this piece of prose precisely because what has been done is NOT what you would have done.
You have before you a piece of entertainment that a writer was paid for. The part that makes you crazy (assuming that close examination shows it to be internally consistent and properly set up) is a test of your understanding as an author, an example of a way to deal with a story that you hadn't thought of and, as such, is a perfect little jewel of information to mine.
Authors write what they do for good reason. When anything in a published piece of fiction perplexes you, take that as the X that marks the spot where you must dig.
I got angry at something that happened in a story I read today and I thought, that is so cool. What just happened? Time to figure that out.
Have fun!
One of my least favorite movies is The Three Musketeers. The one with four Musketeers on the cover... It was soooo bad. The plot, the improbabilities, the dialog ... I think it should be part of every writing course, to be watched by the class and discussed while viewing.
Dear students, pick this movie apart, and learn from its terribleness. You will learn plenty.
Career:
1x Win
2x Finalist
2x Semi
9x Silver
11x HM
7x R
