
Your reader isn’t trying to read your script. They’re trying to decide whether it’s worth reading.
In Part 1 of this exploration of Liz Meriwether’s Furious, Jacob Krueger examines how the creator of New Girl and Dying for Sex uses the opening minutes of a seemingly conventional serial-killer procedural to disrupt our expectations, awaken our curiosity, and prepare us for an emotional journey we never saw coming.
Through a technique Jake calls signaling, Meriwether transforms familiar genre conventions into opportunities for surprise. The mysterious juxtaposition of a dying man and a woman in a kitty-cat mask draws us into the story, while the killer’s unexpected tenderness – crystallized in a single piece of candy corn – challenges our assumptions. Each carefully chosen detail signals that there’s more to this story than meets the eye.
But signaling isn’t simply about surprising your audience. Jake explores how disrupting habitual patterns can open a state of neuroplasticity, making both reader and writer more receptive to unexpected possibilities. By finding ways to surprise yourself, you can discover characters who contain multitudes – while taking your audience somewhere they never expected to go.
For emerging writers, that’s the critical lesson: you don’t have to give away your biggest twists to prove your story is worth reading. Sometimes, all it takes to convince an audience to follow you into the unknown is a single piece of candy corn.
You’ll discover:
- Why professional script readers often skim – and how to convince them your story deserves their attention
- How to use signaling to disrupt audience expectations without giving away your biggest surprises
- How juxtaposition can create mystery and turn your audience into active participants
- How surprising character choices and seemingly insignificant details can reveal unexpected emotional depths
- Why opening yourself to surprise can unlock new creative possibilities (and neural pathways) for both writer and reader
LISTEN NOW to discover how to send the right signals and open your story to the unexpected.


