The Art of the Plot Twist

A story is primarily about entertaining. Don’t get me wrong, our books produce messages that change readers’ views and teach them. But people read fiction for the entertainment value, otherwise, they’d read a self-help book. The best way to add entertainment value to your novel is through plot twists.

End each scene in a way that catches readers off-guard but is more satisfying than any alternative ending. It can’t just be an attention grab; it must be better than readers’ expectations, logical, and add meaning to the story. There are generally three kinds of twists.



1. Something believable out of nowhere. Make readers uncertain about the direction of the story, then give them an ending that is not what they would have guessed, but is the only possible solution in retrospect.

2. Turn expectations against the reader. Lead the reader into certainty of an event or culprit (if you’re writing a mystery), then reveal that things weren’t going in that direction at all. They were going in a fresh, satisfying direction that the reader never would have seen coming.

3. Something from earlier in the novel. This usually involves an escape scene where the protagonist is helplessly trapped by the villain. They escape in a clever way that involves something mentioned earlier in the novel. For example a pocket knife you mentioned in chapter three that everyone forgot about.



To plan or revise your twists, here are four tips.

  • Always be aware of what readers want and predict. If the protagonist is certain someone isn’t the villain, readers will suspect he is. If the protagonist is certain someone is the villain, readers will suspect he isn’t. Make the readers certain of a specific direction by red herrings then pull the rug out.

  • Scatter subtle clues throughout your work that are obscured by intense emotions.

  • Make preceding events lead less to the twist to make it unexpected.

  • Revise the twist to stem directly from preceding events to make it realistic.



Deliver what readers want - but give them more than they bargained for with a powerful twist.

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