I like a good surprised twist in a book. I love it when a book puts in a major twist that is both believable but that I did not see coming. It’s a tricky balance to manage well. Usually I can spot a plot twister before the wind even gets brisk; mostly because they are set out as if they are slowly spewing volcano.
The smoke is obvious, the billowing soot a give way, so I am not surprised when the volcano “suddenly” spits out the “surprise”.
I am looking for the kind of twist that makes a reader exclaim out loud while reading. A moment that compels a reader to tell the stranger sitting next to them, “do you know what just happened!” It’s the whoa – everyone is a ghost – kind of surprise.
It’s actually rather rare in fiction despite many attempts. Probably the easiest method to pull this off is to use an unreliable narrator. This was used to good effect in books like “Gone Girl” and “Girl on the Train.” Unreliable narrators allow a writer to keep stuff hidden from the reader so when it gets revealed later on, we are surprised.
To pull out a major plot twist takes some serious thinking and planning.
Another method is to have a reversal character – either a character we think is “good” but really “evil”. This is hard to do without alerting the reader as we readers are suspicious of these characters. A character who appears to be good but there’s something suspicious about him or her, makes us not trust them. The other flip is an “evil” character turning out to be “good” (like Snape in Harry Potter). We are, of course, also on the outlook for these characters. Any slightly sympatric bad character, I mark as a potential reveal.
The last time I was truly surprised was in a si-fi book (I wouldn’t give out name for avoid any spoiler). It was done by one character (not the main character) unknowingly lie to everyone – readers and characters alike – about a major plot point. So when the lie was revealed (at the climax), wow! Game changer in the plot.
A good twist creates a moment for your character to act differently – to change course –
because of the reveal.
It should not only be a revelation of a “secret”, but also something that causes change. It is best if the resulting change is both in the plot direction and in your character.
Another technique is the “unexpected kill” or the “no one safe” culture. This is the technique used with good effect on Game of Thrones and the fact that early on, the writer was willing to “kill off” what the reader may have thought of as a “major character”. You have to be careful and to make sure that after the kill, the plot must change course. The death must spur action, not just be a kill without a purpose.
Un-expectant endings are key for the mystery genre and common twist tools include: misdirection / throwing suspicion around like confetti at a 1980s wedding; red herrings (the “wrong” clues); and dead ends. Always a good move is to kill off the prime suspect as the second (or third) victim of a crime. See above on unexpected killings.
For short stories, try to throw the reader into the middle of the story. With no back story, it can hard for a reader to predict what will happen.
One key is developing a twist is to know your genre or story tropes. These are common recurring elements, clichés and motifs in literary writing. A example of a story trope is “the airport rush”. Will our hero make it on time to stop the love of their life from boarding the plane when they suddenly realize that they do love the departing character? Oh, the supsense (or not).
Do a quick online search for the common tropes of your genre. You’ve probably have some of these elements already in your story. There is a place for using tropes in your writing (using tropes is not necessary bad writing) but be aware of them in your writing. For creating a plot twist, knowing what readers might expect can help you decided how to develop your plot line to avoid using a trope or twist a common trope into a surprise. This will help keep the reader intrigued and engaged.
Finally, be super creative. At the major plot point, think of all the most likely things that may happen (many of these will be the tropes that we tended to gravitate to). Don’t write any of them. Think of unusual things that might happen. Don’t write them either.
Think of the craziest thing that could happen (and that does not involve an alien invasion or ghost, unless of course, your book is about ghosts and alien invasions).
Try writing that!
Then go back and place the elements needed (characters, objects, the smoking gun, etc) at the beginning because even though it is a twist, you’ve got to set it up (without anyone noticing) in the first part of the story. I like to think of this as the bear pit. You can’t have a character fall into the pit, if you don’t have someone dig and hide the hole in the first act.
