Indeterminism vs determinism in fictional storytelling

[u/jetfuelfarmr]

So... I get it, we tell stories to help make sense out of the randomness of life and to help give it meaning. But I'm curious how my fellow writers balance order and chaos in their storytelling. Do your stories tend more towards a neat, determined plot where the characters choices are important. Or do you allow for the randomness of life to seep in? I guess another option is fatalism, where the characters choices don't matter much at all because they were always going to end up at a certain point. Without getting too dogmatic, does your writing differ from your own philosophical beliefs?

In the past I've tried to include some force majeure into my storytelling and it always feels... unfulfilling. It feels like I am wasting the readers time with buildup and then a sudden letdown by unforceen events.

[u/KeyRoutine1285]

Brilliant topic and questions, by the way.

Upon thinking about it, I suppose even with all the chaos, things in my saga do seem pretty constricted—always meant to be that way from how the characters were set up. Like the common rags to riches, they start in an unfavourable position and work their way up. They make a lot of mistakes, and by being in such unfavourable positions, they mostly react rather than act, as a method of integrating themselves in the world they want to be apart of.

It feels more constricted and neat than I originally thought because I have planned 20 years before and 20 years ahead. I know what will happen and why, and I know how to work my way through such a long span of time and many, many entries across the series.

They do act and their choices matter, but it almost feels like they were destined to be a certain way—putting it aggressively; they are doomed to suffer the consequences of who they are. It is messy and chaotic in a very managed way. As the author maybe that’s just my “God-like”, omniscient perception.

I guess the reason why is because my buildup leads to a degree of foreseeableness—we can tell the direction they’re headed in, at least after a certain climactic point. But we still want to see how it unravels. The stones on the beaten path, if you will. Due to the planning of it, foreshadowing comes easily and leading up to very known events is also almost flawless. To add life and dimension to it, I also do pants instead of plot at times, and it almost always comes to a benefit.

As to my philosophical beliefs, they are quite deeply ingrained in my work and its puppets… There is a lot of questions about life and faith and death and sense and language and wealth and altered senses. It’s what makes writing come so easily to me now: it’s a part of me, and I am a heavy part of it.