Surprise!

We're in Maine enjoying an ocean view and ocean breezes. In our front yard, the clusters of winterberry bushes on the hill down to the ocean attract scads of birds. We enjoy watching gulls, red-winged blackbirds, catbirds, meadowlarks, sparrows, goldfinches, chickadees, hummingbirds and cardinals. We're not too fond of listening to the raucous crows, but they're a part of the scene. The usual. The ordinary. The expected.

Then yesterday when I returned from a walk, I found a surprise!

Wild turkeys! Who'd of thunk it!
And what do these turkeys have to do with writing? Crafting a well-placed surprise jolts readers out of the usual, the ordinary and the expected. And this is a good thing.