Surprise as in literary originality or surprise as in random crap made up on the spot to keep a character from looking bad?
It reminds me of a conversation my brother and I had when I was seven:
"Hey! I shot you!"
"Nuh-uh! Force-field! Ha ha ha ha!"
It took me a while to figure it out, but it's really bad writing when one character gets to be the hero/winner all the time, and nothing anyone does can faze him. I've been slowly moving away from that, but it's startling how people who have been here way longer than me still haven't broken themselves of the habit.
![[yuh huh]](images/icons/rolleyes.gif){kind=icon}
![[no no no]](graemlins/nono.gif)
