Writing Plot Twists

[KeithD]

For me, one of the delights of a really well written short story is a twist in the final sentence or paragraph, where the reader's response is, "Ah ha! Of course." As you say, difficult to do well, but brilliant when it is.

Standard story arc in a mystery.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Standard story arc in a mystery.

Yes, but not always done well.

 

[KeithD]

Yes, but not always done well.

Like everything else in writing.

 

[sbrooks103]

A good plot twist is a real challenge to write. When it works well its really good, but its also easy to mess it up especially if you try to be too clever.

I have three stories that involve major plot twists. My lesbian story 'April Leads Julie Astray' has a major revelation about the main protagonist Julie early in the piece, but only after readers have been introduced to her and already formed their perceptions of the character. My romance story 'Learning to Love Louise' has a major plot twist halfway through that turns it on its head; while the last paragraph of 'Bridget the Bossy Bridezilla' has a final, nasty little twist to end this story of cheating and misadventure.

Have you written plot twists and how did they go? Did your readers like them or dislike them, or did they get met with indifference? Have you read other stories where you liked plot twists, or others that you did not like due to the poor plot twists?

It would be interesting to hear of your experiences.

I can't give you any advice on how to write them, but on how NOT to write them! Don't have a 1st person narrator reveal a twist at the end that he/she new about! To me that's a cheat, not a twist.

In LW there was a story "Not in My House," where the husband is talking about his wife wanting to try BBC. That's Big Black Cock for those unfamiliar with LW. After some rigamarole, it turns out that she was talking about listening to the BBC World Service on the radio, which the husband/narrator new full well, so it was just a joke on the reader.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

I think one of the absolute essentials for a plot twist is that there must be seeds early in the story.

Visit to the Lodge had a plot twist that seemed to be fairly well received. There were actually two, the second caught some people by surprise https://www.literotica.com/beta/s/visit-to-the-lodge

I agree that you need to plant some seeds. To do otherwise is akin the a deus ex machina solution.

 

[SyleusSnow]

I did a twist for the first time in the Halloween short Recall. Seems to have been met largely with indifference here, but was well received on another site, judging from the comments.

Overall I'm not a fan of radical twists in erotica, but a reversal-of-fortune type of surprise ending can add a lot when well executed.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I can't give you any advice on how to write them, but on how NOT to write them! Don't have a 1st person narrator reveal a twist at the end that he/she new about! To me that's a cheat, not a twist.

I can think of a very successful and highly regarded whodunit that broke this rule: the narrator turns out to be the murderer.

In erotica, it's usually a bad idea - normally you want readers to empathise with your narrator, which is hard to do if you're concealing important information. But in the right story it might work.

 

[SimonDoom]

I can't give you any advice on how to write them, but on how NOT to write them! Don't have a 1st person narrator reveal a twist at the end that he/she new about! To me that's a cheat, not a twist.

Sometimes this works. In Scott Turow's novel Presumed Innocent, the narrator is accused of murder, but you're never really sure if he's guilty or not until he reveals who the murderer is in the end. I thought it worked. If I recall correctly the novel is in present tense, which makes it work better.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Sometimes this works. In Scott Turow's novel Presumed Innocent, the narrator is accused of murder, but you're never really sure if he's guilty or not until he reveals who the murderer is in the end. I thought it worked. If I recall correctly the novel is in present tense, which makes it work better.

Didn't the movie adaptation added a tiny tiny bit of doubt right at the end, maaaybe it was Rusty, after all?

Not that it mattered, because: Greta Scacchi .

 

[SimonDoom]

Didn't the movie adaptation added a tiny tiny bit of doubt right at the end, maaaybe it was Rusty, after all?

Not that it mattered, because: Greta Scacchi .

I actually don't remember much about the movie adaptation. Except Greta Scacchi, of course.