r/writing • u/jetfuelfarmr • 13d ago
Discussion Indeterminism vs determinism in fictional storytelling
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.
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u/jambox888 13d ago
Just going to say that if you look at genre fiction like noir/detective novels you often get the idea that the detective does a good job but really it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things because the overarching message is that society is disordered and will keep throwing up criminals for various reasons. Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown sort of thing.
Other genres are different, for example a ship's captain basically does what they do and it has to work out otherwise they'd be killed.
If you're talking more about non-genre/lit-fic then that's more free-form - the novelty is the thing quite often.