Have you ever been so engrossed in a novel, only to have the author throw a curve ball, and you didn’t know what to expect anymore? That’s the beauty of plot twists. Instead of rambling along on a path that readers think they know, you’re able to surprise them and keep their attention.
As a writer, you might find yourself stuck somewhere in your story. You know how you want your story to start and end, but what about all the in-between scenes? When you feel stuck in a rut, a plot twist may be just what you need to stir up some excitement again.
As a rule, plot twists are designed to shock your readers because they’re totally unexpected. A good way to set this up is to create expectations towards a logical conclusion, and then thwart that expectation. An important key to remember is that plot twists should serve your general story line and not divert from it.
25 Plot Twist Prompts
Although you might have a clear picture of how you want your story to go, many times, you may not have thought through all the little bumps on the road, or the twists and turns that the book needs to take. This is where these plot twist prompts can help you.
1. Bring in an old flame. An old love affair that crops up out of nowhere can cause a lot of tension for a new couple.
2. Reveal a major fear. A phobia or a past experience can cause your character to freeze and not be able to move forward.
3. Trigger a traumatic memory. Something might trigger the memory of a traumatic experience, causing your character to act in a way that surprises the other characters and even your readers. This gives you opportunity to weave in some back story.
4. Let your antagonist win some. What happens if the antagonist wins a round? How will it affect your protagonist?
5. Introduce a new person. A new character comes to the scene and shakes things up a bit.
6. Kill a major character. Stephen King, known for killing off characters as a major plot twist, is once quoted as saying, “I didn’t kill him off, I found him dead!”
7. Give your protagonist a fatal illness. Once you get your readers caring for your main character, you have the liberty of pulling the strings some more with a fatal illness!
8. Use acts of nature to your advantage. What if a hurricane suddenly destroys the town? How will your main characters react?
9. Hint at a coming betrayal. Friendships in the fictional world aren’t all sunshine and roses. What if one of your protagonist’s most trusted friends turns out to be a traitor?
10. Make a character disappear. What happens when one of the major characters suddenly vanish? Where did he go? What happened to him? It gives you space to expand the story in another direction. Just make sure it’s still related to your main storyline.
11. Share a secret. What could be a secret that your main character needs to keep hidden? What could happen if other people were to know that about him or her?
12. Stir up a conflict between characters. A story is all about conflict in the first place. But how about adding to the stakes by causing interpersonal conflict between some of your characters, who are supposed to be working together?
13. Make the bad guy someone totally unexpected. Part of the thrill of reading mystery novels is that people aren’t always what they seem. Mystery writer Sidney Sheldon is an expert at choosing the least likely people to end up being the bad guy. (Oops, spoiler alert?)
14. Resurrect someone. Sometimes, killing off a character is not enough; what if it turns out, a few chapters later, they’re not dead after all? This is a plot twist strategy that Arthur Conan Doyle expertly employs in his Sherlock Holmes novels.
15. Reveal a new reality. This is a common plot twist for psychological thrillers, where it’s revealed in the end that the reality was not what it seemed. For example, it turns out that the narrator had been drugged, mentally ill, or experiencing everything in the book while in a coma!
16. Frame someone, but reveal their innocence later. It’s easy to accuse someone, but make it all look authentic. And then you get the chance to surprise your readers later on when it turns out the character was innocent all along.
17. Have your character be someone else totally. If you craft your story around your main character, you will have your readers drawn in and emotionally connect with him or her. What happens when he or she isn’t who they’re pretended to be?
18. Have your main character fail. You can build up everything to where your reader is already secure in the victory—and then have the main character fall flat on his face.
19. Give an ultimatum. Increase the stakes by having someone in the story give your character an ultimatum. It can be his father, who threatens to disown him, or a kidnapper who demands a ransom at an exact time—or else.
20. Have someone move away. Perhaps it can be someone really close to your protagonist, and getting him out of the way will cause added tension.
21. Reveal something through eavesdropping. What if a character hears something he shouldn’t? What should he or she do about it? How will it affect his actions?
22. Uncover a family scandal. What if your protagonist discovers that her older sister is actually her mother? Or what if the perfect couple has skeletons in their closet, and they only find out about each other’s extramarital affairs as one of them lies in his or her deathbed?
23. Release a new antagonist. Another way of upping the stakes is when the antagonist actually isn’t the first one introduced; what if there’s a whole horde of enemies to fight against?
24. Make it all a dream. What if everything that has happened so far turns out to be all a dream?
25. Unveil unexpected friends. Sometimes you may want to portray someone as an enemy who turns out to be helpful in the end.
Plot Twists to Shock Your Readers
The goal of plot twists is to shock your readers into renewed interest, but it’s also important to keep your genre in mind and respect your readers’ expectations to a degree. Your readers may not be too happy if they think they’ve picked up a romance novel, only to find your protagonist is really a serial killer!
Practice writing with plot twists, and experiment with how you foreshadow them. Some of the best surprises are those that have your reader slap their heads and say, “Why didn’t I see that coming?” If one route doesn’t seem to go anywhere, don’t be afraid to try something else!
Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- Scene and Sequel: How to Plot an Epic Novel
- Plot Holes: What They Are and How to Avoid Them
- The Idiot Plot: Why Characters Often Make Dumb Decisions
- Understanding Plot: Key Elements and Examples
Yen Cabag is the Blog Writer of TCK Publishing. She is also a homeschooling mom, family coach, and speaker for the Charlotte Mason method, an educational philosophy that places great emphasis on classic literature and the masterpieces in art and music. She has also written several books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion is to see the next generation of children become lovers of reading and learning in the midst of short attention spans.
