Plot-twist story prompts do not come in at the beginning of your story or the end . They come as a surprise throughout your story.

A good plot twist is the one the reader won’t see coming and creates a shock to the reader. This makes your story more interesting, suspenseful.

Every good story needs a turn or two to keep it gripping – pushing it along – forcing the reader to think about it years after the book is read.

All the elements must be there in order to create the plot, including a collection of clues leading up to the plot twist.

Audiences LOVE to be fooled and twists cultivate passionate fans. Plots are crucial elements that keep any story moving in an exciting way.

8 Tips on creating the perfect plot twist:

  1. Approach your story as a reader and introduce a unique plot.
  2. Execute your plot in a clever way – advancing the main plot.
  3. Let your characters create the plot twists.
  4. Ensure your twist is believable and necessary – it must makes sense.
  5. Disguise a plot twist – within a plot.
  6. Your subplot must mean more than readers think.
  7. Adopt a ‘no-one is safe’ mentality – all characters are vulnerable to your plot
  8. Maintain the momentum – keep the reader intrigued.

The revelation of surprising information is not climactic action. But when it accompanies a surprising, climactic choice, it enhances an amazing twist.

Plot twists should surprise a reader without confusing them. Foreshadowing your twist is key.

One of my favorite examples of a plot twist is nestled within Yann Martel’s “Life of Pi.” Needless to say, this is a spoiler alert. The story is about a young boy named Pi who is adrift on a small raft in the Pacific Ocean for almost one year. He survives with a Bengal tiger and a host of other zoo animals. One by one, the animals eat each other until only Pi and the tiger remain. In the final part of the novel, it’s revealed that the animals on Pi’s raft were not animals at all, but humans, and the tiger represents Pi.

The reader had come to accept that the zoo animals were actually on the boat with Pi. Pi, of course, proved to be an unreliable narrator, but that’s not revealed until the end of the book. The reader is left to grapple with the heavier, spiritual implications of the story. This plot twist gave the reader something to chew on long after closing the book.

“Linda has published sixteen books. She blogs about the publishing world, posts useful tips on the challenges a writer faces, including marketing and promoting your work, how to build your online platform, how to get reviews and how to self-publish.”