Okay! I’m going to come right out of the gate here and post because I was really hoping for the chance to discuss this topic.
*DEEP INHALE*
There’s a phrase I’ve learned that describes perfectly what a plot twist should be:
Suprising, yet inevitable.
You don’t want your reader to come to a plot twist and say “Where did this come from!?” You want them to get to your twist and think “How did I not see this coming…?”
Plot twists should make sense. If you pull a plot twist out of nowhere, you risk evoking the dreaded deux ex machina. Good plot twists are pre-meditated. They rely on foreshadowing, red herrings, and misdirection. A story should have multiple plots that shift and interweave. It’s a mind game – you have to outthink your reader.
This means that your plot twists will be more or less effective depending on the reader’s intelligence and knowledge of commonly used twists.
NEVER dilute the impact of a plot twist. You want it to be strong, quick, and have it hurt a lot. Plot twists are character based. One way to consider a good plot twist is to think of the worst thing you can do to a character and then do it to them. Find the best way to torture your protagonist to make the reader scream.
You don’t want to disappoint your reader with a plot twist. Remember, writing is about fulfilling promises. Plot twists fulfill a reader’s expectations for a story, but do it in an unexpected way.
Sounds tough, right? So… how do you do this?
Well, a lot of it is usually done in post.
For writers, foreshadowing and other elements get added after a book’s first draft. This is because the author has a better idea of how they want to manipulate the reader and where they want to direct their attention.
Being a writer is like being a magician – no one in the audience sees the 47 times you practiced a trick. They only see it when it’s perfected.
This can be a tough break for us bloggers, though, because we’re posting chapters as we go.
To remedy this, give yourself ideas to work with throughout the process. Creating plot twists can be done either by introducing new information to the reader, or by using old information in a new way. Say, as an example, you establish early on that your character has a brother but don’t go into any detail about who the brother is. Later on in the story, you can reveal that this brother was actually involved in a relevant plot event and that the character’s best friend killed him! Bam. Plot twist. The nice thing is, twists like this can sometimes be devised on the fly.
If you think to yourself “Oooo, wouldn’t it be crazy if this happened?” then you might want to try it out. Not every twist has to be established at the beginning of the writing process. I’ve devised a number of future twists for DOTE in the last few months alone.
Just be careful. There’s always a risk of going overboard. You don’t want your plot twists happening Scooby-doo style where a bunch of masks get pulled off near the end.
The best way to get good at plot twists is to read stories with plot twists. Take notes. Learn from the experts. Find out what works and what doesn’t work.
As a closing note, here’s Chekhov's Law: if a gun is drawn in the third act, you need to show it in the first.
Okay! I’m going to come right out of the gate here and post because I was really hoping for the chance to discuss this topic.
*DEEP INHALE*
There’s a phrase I’ve learned that describes perfectly what a plot twist should be:
Suprising, yet inevitable.
You don’t want your reader to come to a plot twist and say “Where did this come from!?” You want them to get to your twist and think “How did I not see this coming…?”
Plot twists should make sense. If you pull a plot twist out of nowhere, you risk evoking the dreaded deux ex machina. Good plot twists are pre-meditated. They rely on foreshadowing, red herrings, and misdirection. A story should have multiple plots that shift and interweave. It’s a mind game – you have to outthink your reader.
This means that your plot twists will be more or less effective depending on the reader’s intelligence and knowledge of commonly used twists.
NEVER dilute the impact of a plot twist. You want it to be strong, quick, and have it hurt a lot. Plot twists are character based. One way to consider a good plot twist is to think of the worst thing you can do to a character and then do it to them. Find the best way to torture your protagonist to make the reader scream.
You don’t want to disappoint your reader with a plot twist. Remember, writing is about fulfilling promises. Plot twists fulfill a reader’s expectations for a story, but do it in an unexpected way.
Sounds tough, right? So… how do you do this?
Well, a lot of it is usually done in post.
For writers, foreshadowing and other elements get added after a book’s first draft. This is because the author has a better idea of how they want to manipulate the reader and where they want to direct their attention.
Being a writer is like being a magician – no one in the audience sees the 47 times you practiced a trick. They only see it when it’s perfected.
This can be a tough break for us bloggers, though, because we’re posting chapters as we go.
To remedy this, give yourself ideas to work with throughout the process. Creating plot twists can be done either by introducing new information to the reader, or by using old information in a new way. Say, as an example, you establish early on that your character has a brother but don’t go into any detail about who the brother is. Later on in the story, you can reveal that this brother was actually involved in a relevant plot event and that the character’s best friend killed him! Bam. Plot twist. The nice thing is, twists like this can sometimes be devised on the fly.
If you think to yourself “Oooo, wouldn’t it be crazy if this happened?” then you might want to try it out. Not every twist has to be established at the beginning of the writing process. I’ve devised a number of future twists for DOTE in the last few months alone.
Just be careful. There’s always a risk of going overboard. You don’t want your plot twists happening Scooby-doo style where a bunch of masks get pulled off near the end.
The best way to get good at plot twists is to read stories with plot twists. Take notes. Learn from the experts. Find out what works and what doesn’t work.
As a closing note, here’s Chekhov's Law: if a gun is drawn in the third act, you need to show it in the first.
By the way, **spoilers for the original Bioshock and Heavy Rain down below.**
