You Don't Fool Me

I am writing this while staring at my yellow walls, not sure why, just feeling a bit sleepy, I guess.

One of the problems I find with being a writer is that storylines no longer fool me- I can usually read a book or watch a film and know exactly what is going to come next. When you begin to think like a writer it is difficult to avoid noticing the red herrings and intentional bluffs that are included in someone else's work. It is a rare piece of work that can surprise me, or fill me with the sense of not having any idea of what happens next.

I have begun to see through certain moments as well, when I can see what the writer was trying to do at that point- the symbolism, the foreshadowing etc. .... It is really ruining entertainment for me.

My mind cannot sit still and watch or read, it has to analyse and inwardly annotate what is going on until I am sure of what is going to happen next.

The gradual development of this skill can be seen with the Harry Potter series. I read the first when I was around 10 years old and was completly fooled by many of the twists and turns of the plot (I really thought Snape was after the stone). I started writing at 12 and by the time I read the final book at around 20 I was no longer fooled by any of Rowling's clever plot points.

Maybe this is true of all writers and it is something that you just have to live with but just for once I would like to be led astray, fooled and surprised. So, any writers out there- that is your challenge. Fool me.