How to Write a Mindblowing Plot Twist
Since NaNo is quickly approaching, I figured it would be fitting to do a video on Plotting, and more specifically how to write a damn good plot twist. So that’s what we’re going to talk about today. If you'd rather watch the video on this topic, feel free to click play below. Otherwise, keep on reading!
The best plot twist is an unexpected one. This means that something happens in your story that the reader couldn’t possibly have guessed, or maybe that a semi-expected change in your story happens at a completely unexpected time. Once you think of a good way to put a twist in your story, it’s important to map that entire plot twist out to ensure you really can make it work and that it’s still plausible and believable.
In general, there are three types of plot twists: Revealing, Shocking, and Clever
1. “Revealing”· Revealing plot twists lead to an answer muddled in uncertainty in the story
2. “Shocking”· Shocking plot twists completely reverse the truth mentioned in the story
3. “Clever”· Clever plot twists use the constraints of the story to extract an interesting twistEach plot twist has a different effect on your audience; yet there is only one true difference in each type of plot twist: It’s how you twist your reader’s expectations. And twisting the reader’s expectations is what hooks them to your writing which is obviously what we want. So we’re going to talk about 6 ways you can twist your reader’s expectations:
1. The Obvious· During the outlining phase, think of all the “obvious” things that could happen in your story and write them down. The reader may expect certain things to happen throughout your book surrounding lies, betrayals, secret lovers, or (shocker) love triangle! Once you have your ideas, it’s time to organize them into three piles.o The first pile is the: Throw out pile: Some of these twists will be too clichéd, too vague, make no sense, or are just way too obvious. These are ideas that will make your readers groan in agony due to your inability to shock them. Get rid of these ideas while they’re undeveloped. You’ll thank yourself later.o File for later pile: These certain twists are unique, but maybe they don’t fit the pacing of your story. Hold onto them though, because you may be able to work them in later on.o Keep pile: Sometimes while you’re outlining, a great and surprising plot twist will work its way into your head. If this happens to you, keep it and try expanding on it to see if it’s worthwhile having in your story.
2. The Foreshadow· Foreshadowing directly coincides with the “revealing” type of plot twist. The greatest plot twists are those that are hard to guess the first time, but make perfect sense the second time around. This requires a great deal of cleverly placed hints throughout your story to lead up to the big twist. In order to foreshadow, first, you need to plant the idea that something strange is happening. Have your characters familiarize themselves with concepts that will be important in the future for your plot twist. This could be interacting with important objects, mentioning certain topics, or having them react to certain things. Second, you should increase the tension around your idea and leave clues muddled in them. The easiest way to increase the tension is to have your characters fail due to ignorance. Allow your characters to mess up and fumble, all because they are missing one important fact. And lastly, make your reveal. Show the hidden piece of information as interestingly as possible and try to have your character explore what they must now overcome with this new knowledge your twist has provided.
3. The Open Ending· When you leave a story open-ended, this means that you don’t explain how the story ends, but rather, you leave it up to the imagination of the reader. A great example of this is in Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Spoliers ahead! So if you haven’t read or seen Fight Club yet, you may want to jump ahead in this video by 15 seconds or so. In Fight Club, after the narrator pulls the trigger, he wakes up . . . somewhere. It could be heaven. It could be a lunatic asylum. He is told Tyler will return but Tyler doesn’t exist . . . or does he? With an open-ending, the audience doesn’t really know what happened to the characters in the end, but based on the story and what has occurred up to that point, they can usually infer an ending in order to satisfy their need to tie up any remaining loose ends in their minds.
4. The Untrustworthy Narrator· This is a great technique to use because people are often conditioned to take the narrator’s word when reading a story. The narrator is the perfect character to use in order to confuse the reader, and maybe give them hints and suggestions that will lead them to a completely different conclusion from the one that you are setting up for your plot twist. However, if you are going to use this method, it’s important to not make it glaringly obvious that the narrator is untrustworthy in telling the story. You should be foreshadowing it subtly, but the story that the narrator is telling must also be completely believable. When used effectively, the reader will be very surprised at the plot twist, but will also have a feeling of “Man, I should have seen that coming.”
5. The Reverse Character· This is when your plot twist consists of either the hero turning into the villain or vice versa. Sometimes it comes off forced when the character becomes a polar opposite of what he or she has been throughout the story, so it is best to give these characters some traits that would make their transitions believable.
6. The Unexpected Kill· Your readers might hate you for a short while, but this technique provides an unexpected plot twist. Killing off one of the main characters in the middle of the story is something that always comes as unexpected. Readers pick up on who the key characters are early in the story if they are well-developed, and they attach to these characters early on. Having one of these main characters die really twists things into an unexpected direction, because the reader was already looking forward to what will happen to this character at the end of the story, and so finding out that this character will not be playing any type of role in the story’s ending is always a good shock for the reader.
So there you have it, 6 ways for you to write a mind-blowing plot twist that your readers will never see coming. That's all that I have for you guys today. Thanks for reading! Don't forget to check out my debut novel, THE ALPHA DRIVE, on your way out, as well as the sequel, THE ORDER OF OMEGA, which releases on November 8, 2016. As always, I will see you in the next post!
Until next time,
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The best plot twist is an unexpected one. This means that something happens in your story that the reader couldn’t possibly have guessed, or maybe that a semi-expected change in your story happens at a completely unexpected time. Once you think of a good way to put a twist in your story, it’s important to map that entire plot twist out to ensure you really can make it work and that it’s still plausible and believable.
In general, there are three types of plot twists: Revealing, Shocking, and Clever
1. “Revealing”· Revealing plot twists lead to an answer muddled in uncertainty in the story
2. “Shocking”· Shocking plot twists completely reverse the truth mentioned in the story
3. “Clever”· Clever plot twists use the constraints of the story to extract an interesting twistEach plot twist has a different effect on your audience; yet there is only one true difference in each type of plot twist: It’s how you twist your reader’s expectations. And twisting the reader’s expectations is what hooks them to your writing which is obviously what we want. So we’re going to talk about 6 ways you can twist your reader’s expectations:
1. The Obvious· During the outlining phase, think of all the “obvious” things that could happen in your story and write them down. The reader may expect certain things to happen throughout your book surrounding lies, betrayals, secret lovers, or (shocker) love triangle! Once you have your ideas, it’s time to organize them into three piles.o The first pile is the: Throw out pile: Some of these twists will be too clichéd, too vague, make no sense, or are just way too obvious. These are ideas that will make your readers groan in agony due to your inability to shock them. Get rid of these ideas while they’re undeveloped. You’ll thank yourself later.o File for later pile: These certain twists are unique, but maybe they don’t fit the pacing of your story. Hold onto them though, because you may be able to work them in later on.o Keep pile: Sometimes while you’re outlining, a great and surprising plot twist will work its way into your head. If this happens to you, keep it and try expanding on it to see if it’s worthwhile having in your story.
2. The Foreshadow· Foreshadowing directly coincides with the “revealing” type of plot twist. The greatest plot twists are those that are hard to guess the first time, but make perfect sense the second time around. This requires a great deal of cleverly placed hints throughout your story to lead up to the big twist. In order to foreshadow, first, you need to plant the idea that something strange is happening. Have your characters familiarize themselves with concepts that will be important in the future for your plot twist. This could be interacting with important objects, mentioning certain topics, or having them react to certain things. Second, you should increase the tension around your idea and leave clues muddled in them. The easiest way to increase the tension is to have your characters fail due to ignorance. Allow your characters to mess up and fumble, all because they are missing one important fact. And lastly, make your reveal. Show the hidden piece of information as interestingly as possible and try to have your character explore what they must now overcome with this new knowledge your twist has provided.
3. The Open Ending· When you leave a story open-ended, this means that you don’t explain how the story ends, but rather, you leave it up to the imagination of the reader. A great example of this is in Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Spoliers ahead! So if you haven’t read or seen Fight Club yet, you may want to jump ahead in this video by 15 seconds or so. In Fight Club, after the narrator pulls the trigger, he wakes up . . . somewhere. It could be heaven. It could be a lunatic asylum. He is told Tyler will return but Tyler doesn’t exist . . . or does he? With an open-ending, the audience doesn’t really know what happened to the characters in the end, but based on the story and what has occurred up to that point, they can usually infer an ending in order to satisfy their need to tie up any remaining loose ends in their minds.
4. The Untrustworthy Narrator· This is a great technique to use because people are often conditioned to take the narrator’s word when reading a story. The narrator is the perfect character to use in order to confuse the reader, and maybe give them hints and suggestions that will lead them to a completely different conclusion from the one that you are setting up for your plot twist. However, if you are going to use this method, it’s important to not make it glaringly obvious that the narrator is untrustworthy in telling the story. You should be foreshadowing it subtly, but the story that the narrator is telling must also be completely believable. When used effectively, the reader will be very surprised at the plot twist, but will also have a feeling of “Man, I should have seen that coming.”
5. The Reverse Character· This is when your plot twist consists of either the hero turning into the villain or vice versa. Sometimes it comes off forced when the character becomes a polar opposite of what he or she has been throughout the story, so it is best to give these characters some traits that would make their transitions believable.
6. The Unexpected Kill· Your readers might hate you for a short while, but this technique provides an unexpected plot twist. Killing off one of the main characters in the middle of the story is something that always comes as unexpected. Readers pick up on who the key characters are early in the story if they are well-developed, and they attach to these characters early on. Having one of these main characters die really twists things into an unexpected direction, because the reader was already looking forward to what will happen to this character at the end of the story, and so finding out that this character will not be playing any type of role in the story’s ending is always a good shock for the reader.
So there you have it, 6 ways for you to write a mind-blowing plot twist that your readers will never see coming. That's all that I have for you guys today. Thanks for reading! Don't forget to check out my debut novel, THE ALPHA DRIVE, on your way out, as well as the sequel, THE ORDER OF OMEGA, which releases on November 8, 2016. As always, I will see you in the next post!

Until next time,

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source 2
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Published on October 25, 2016 07:20
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