Story endings with a twist

[someoneyouknow]

Looking for feedback/discussion/commentary/whatever on having stories with a twist at the end. For instance, in my last story, I had a plot line where I had indicated there would be a coin flip to decide which of two characters would have anal sex first (as a condition of their plans for a third character).

As I was writing the last chapter of the story, I decided to not have a coin flip and went a different direction. At the end, it was mentioned the coin flip never happened to which the response was, "Maybe next time."

Someone wrote me and while they appreciated the story, they were disappointed that the flip never happened. I replied, as above, that I decided to go another way but that the ending left the possibility for me to revisit it at some point in the future, if I chose to do so.

What are your thoughts on this type of writing? Does it tick you off having read everything, waiting for the big tada only to find it's not there, or do you smirk at the twist the story took and appreciate the change of story?

 

[Stella_Omega]

There had better be a ta-dah of some size, or I want my money back.

If I read about a coin flip as a plot point, then it's a thread that needs to be tied by the end. I want the characters to say: "We never did flip that coin, did we!" "yeah, but we didn't need to-- and it was faces on both sides anyway."

 

[BONNIEBREA]

For a twist at the end to be effective the reader shouldn't know it's coming. So, they wouldn't be disappointed to not find something they weren't looking for in the first place.

I tend to favor thematic twists over plot twists, although the occasions to use them are pretty few and far between. I had one story that was novella length (9 chapters and about 36,000 words) in which the protagonist plots out and engages in all these activities, and then on the last page she and the reader (the story is written in the protagonist's first person voice) come to the realization that the whole thing was really in response to other motivations, rather than the surface motivation put forward by the story and under which she thought she was acting.

 

[someoneyouknow]

There had better be a ta-dah of some size, or I want my money back.

If I read about a coin flip as a plot point, then it's a thread that needs to be tied by the end. I want the characters to say: "We never did flip that coin, did we!" "yeah, but we didn't need to-- and it was faces on both sides anyway."

I ended up having the characters in a 3-way as well as girl-on-girl.

In another story (my worst one), the guy ended up finding out he had slept with a prostitute and she wanted paid. Thus, the twist.

Certainly I would never do it in every story, but once in a while is fine, right?

 

[Stella_Omega]

I ended up having the characters in a 3-way as well as girl-on-girl.

sure, but the readers will still want to know about the coin flip. You need to tie the thread. That's why people complained. That's the craft of storytelling.

In another story (my worst one), the guy ended up finding out he had slept with a prostitute and she wanted paid. Thus, the twist.

That's a plot twist, or maybe a theme twist-- different thing. Did people complain about it? If they did not --you did it right.

Certainly I would never do it in every story, but once in a while is fine, right?

yes.

 

[Marvin33]

http://www.specialschooleducation.com/fdgdg.gif

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Chekov said, "If you introduce a gun in Act 1, you had better well use it by Act 3."

What you describe doesn't sound like a plot twist to me. A plot twist is some sort of revelation in a story that suddenly puts everything that's happened so far into a new light. Setting up a device and drawing the reader's attention to it and then not using it isn't a twist. It's a cheat, a con, a swindle. Readers have a right to be pissed.

I have a story in which, as I got to the end, I suddenly realized I could end with a big Twist: the murder of one of the characters. As drama it works great and ties all these loose pieces together, but as porn it's a flop. Murder and porn just don't go together.

 

[glynndah]

Yes. If you say there's going to be a coin flip and it never happens, that's the only thing I'm going to remember from your story.

 

[someoneyouknow]

Chekov said, "If you introduce a gun in Act 1, you had better well use it by Act 3."

What you describe doesn't sound like a plot twist to me. A plot twist is some sort of revelation in a story that suddenly puts everything that's happened so far into a new light. Setting up a device and drawing the reader's attention to it and then not using it isn't a twist. It's a cheat, a con, a swindle. Readers have a right to be pissed.

I have a story in which, as I got to the end, I suddenly realized I could end with a big Twist: the murder of one of the characters. As drama it works great and ties all these loose pieces together, but as porn it's a flop. Murder and porn just don't go together.

Maybe twist wasn't the right word. If you ever read 'Rendezvous with Rama' by Arthur C. Clarke, you're reading the story, the whole time waiting for something to happen but in the end, nothing does. The story goes off in a different direction. In the case of the book, Rama heads towards the sun, gets some energy, then heads off 'south' out of the solar plane. You never find out what the whole thing was about until a book or two later.

I'm not trying to justify whether I should or should not do this, it was only one comment that prompted this. It's more of making sure that my own odd sense of storytelling doesn't interfere with the actual story or, more importantly, tick people off. Personally, I like when a story ends differently than where you thought it would go. Not deus ex machina different, more, "Heh heh, cute" different. But that's just me.

 

[Stella_Omega]

"Rendezvous with Rama" was kind of disappointing, wasn't it? Clarke kind of failed, in that he didn't leave any clues for the reader that there was going to be a next book with more action.

Personally, I like when a story ends differently than where you thought it would go. Not deus ex machina different, more, "Heh heh, cute" different.

yes-- that's a plot twist in action.

If you were reading Cinderella, for instance, and we all know how it ends-- but supposing instead, that Cinderella runs off with the fairy godmother because she's a lesbian? And she fixes the Prince up with one of her sisters, who really aren't that bad?

 

[someoneyouknow]

"Rendezvous with Rama" was kind of disappointing, wasn't it? Clarke kind of failed, in that he didn't leave any clues for the reader that there was going to be a next book with more action.

yes-- that's a plot twist in action.

If you were reading Cinderella, for instance, and we all know how it ends-- but supposing instead, that Cinderella runs off with the fairy godmother because she's a lesbian? And she fixes the Prince up with one of her sisters, who really aren't that bad?

That's what I'm talking about. I did originally plan on having the flip, then, due to my ugly way of writing, decided not to have the flip but to go with, "Maybe next time." At least I hinted at the possibility of a later story (unlike Clarke).

I get very little feedback from my stories, which is fine, but this one comment got me thinking.

 

[Stella_Omega]

See-- the flip, and the fact you didn't have it, sets up a great last line IMO

"We never did flip that coin, did we?" 'A' said once she'd gotten her breath back.
With a satisfied smile, 'B' leaned back.
"no we didn't... but we flipped something so much better!"

Something like that.

 

[someoneyouknow]

See-- the flip, and the fact you didn't have it, sets up a great last line IMO

"We never did flip that coin, did we?" 'A' said once she'd gotten her breath back.
With a satisfied smile, 'B' leaned back.
"no we didn't... but we flipped something so much better!"

Something like that.

Okie, second guessing is over. Just wanted to toss the thought out there for other opinions.

Back to writing.

Thanks

 

[dr_mabeuse]

"Rendezvous with Rama" was kind of disappointing, wasn't it? Clarke kind of failed, in that he didn't leave any clues for the reader that there was going to be a next book with more action.

yes-- that's a plot twist in action.

If you were reading Cinderella, for instance, and we all know how it ends-- but supposing instead, that Cinderella runs off with the fairy godmother because she's a lesbian? And she fixes the Prince up with one of her sisters, who really aren't that bad?

I thought Rendezvous with Rama succeeded wonderfully at doing just what Clarke intended for it to: which was to give us a glimpse of truly alien technology, one so strange that it surpassed all human attempts to understand it. The dominant emotions in the book are confusion, uncertainty, and bewilderment, and it would have defeated his purpose had he tried to superimpose some typically human story-form over it.

It's not easy writing about the unknown. It's even harder to write about the unimaginable, but I thought Clarke gave it a very good go.

 

[someoneyouknow]

I thought Rendezvous with Rama succeeded wonderfully at doing just what Clarke intended for it to: which was to give us a glimpse of truly alien technology, one so strange that it surpassed all human attempts to understand it. The dominant emotions in the book are confusion, uncertainty, and bewilderment, and it would have defeated his purpose had he tried to superimpose some typically human story-form over it.

It's not easy writing about the unknown. It's even harder to write about the unimaginable, but I thought Clarke gave it a very good go.

Oh yes, in that sense it was a great story. I could see the inside of Rama, the various creatures, the curved walls, and everything else he described. That part was great.

But I, like most of us, am used to stories having some type of closure. In this case, he built up the suspense then, it left. Well crap! Sure, it left you wondering what the whole thing was about, but it seemed unsatisfying only because he had built it up so much.

While I am nowhere near the writer Clarke was, I don't want to inadvertently have that kind of letdown.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Maybe twist wasn't the right word. If you ever read 'Rendezvous with Rama' by Arthur C. Clarke, you're reading the story, the whole time waiting for something to happen but in the end, nothing does. The story goes off in a different direction. In the case of the book, Rama heads towards the sun, gets some energy, then heads off 'south' out of the solar plane. You never find out what the whole thing was about until a book or two later.

I'm not trying to justify whether I should or should not do this, it was only one comment that prompted this. It's more of making sure that my own odd sense of storytelling doesn't interfere with the actual story or, more importantly, tick people off. Personally, I like when a story ends differently than where you thought it would go. Not deus ex machina different, more, "Heh heh, cute" different. But that's just me.

Writers forget that the function of fiction is to solve problems for people.

 

[PoppingTom]

Writers forget that the function of fiction is to solve problems for people.

You better read more fiction, jimmy

 

[AlwaysDancing]

Chekov said, "If you introduce a gun in Act 1, you had better well use it by Act 3."

What you describe doesn't sound like a plot twist to me. A plot twist is some sort of revelation in a story that suddenly puts everything that's happened so far into a new light. Setting up a device and drawing the reader's attention to it and then not using it isn't a twist. It's a cheat, a con, a swindle. Readers have a right to be pissed

It's okay to go in a different direction, just go back and edit out the mention of the gun ... Er, coin toss.

 

[estragon]

A surprise ending is one thing, but cheating the reader is entirely different. O. Henry surprised readers a lot, but never cheated them.

 

[Bebeslut]

I thought Rendezvous with Rama succeeded wonderfully at doing just what Clarke intended for it to: which was to give us a glimpse of truly alien technology, one so strange that it surpassed all human attempts to understand it. The dominant emotions in the book are confusion, uncertainty, and bewilderment, and it would have defeated his purpose had he tried to superimpose some typically human story-form over it.

It's not easy writing about the unknown. It's even harder to write about the unimaginable, but I thought Clarke gave it a very good go.

I thought Clarke was successful, too, and I think the point of the story had more to do with his Buddhisat philosophy than it did with anything else. The reveailing line for me was at the end of the story when the Captain observes: "The Ramans do everything in threes!"

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Prior to the last century, a story or book usually had a didactic purpose. A story had a moral or a message, and fiction was a way of giving meaning to the chaos of experience. But all that changed in the 20th century with the loss of moral certainty, and now we have a lot of art that confronts us with our own limits for making sense or understand things.

The movie 2001: A Space Odyssey is another piece of Sci Fi that tries to show us what the limits of understanding feel like, and though they throw in a conventional man-vs-computer subplot, the central image of the story--those mysterious black slabs--were never explained. I'm pretty sure Stanley Kubrick was heavily influenced by Rama.

When you get down to it, most sci fi aliens are very human in their actions, and motivated by very human emotions like greed, maliciousness, lust, cruelty, and all the things we fear in ourselves (or love in ourselves, like ET). Rarely do you get a truly alien alien, something whose psychology is completely beyond our understanding.

I think that's what Clarke was shooting for in Rama. His book was a reaction against all the Bug-Eyed Monsters of contemporary Sci Fi, and it wasn't so much a story as it was a travelogue or sight-seeing tour.

 

[TxRad]

Chekov said, "If you introduce a gun in Act 1, you had better well use it by Act 3."

What you describe doesn't sound like a plot twist to me. A plot twist is some sort of revelation in a story that suddenly puts everything that's happened so far into a new light. Setting up a device and drawing the reader's attention to it and then not using it isn't a twist. It's a cheat, a con, a swindle. Readers have a right to be pissed.

I have a story in which, as I got to the end, I suddenly realized I could end with a big Twist: the murder of one of the characters. As drama it works great and ties all these loose pieces together, but as porn it's a flop. Murder and porn just don't go together.

Get the murder out of the way early and then the remorse/shock for the murderer. Then the porn works great. Or at least I think it did.

Try this on for size: Until Death Do Us Part

 

[electric1]

To me, a twist ending on a porn story seems pointless. If the reader makes it all the way to your last sentence, you didn't do your job right.

My Halloween story had multiple twist-endings. It was a parody of horror films, and I wanted to mimic the stupid twist-endings often used therein. But I'll be the first to admit I got carried away with amusing myself and I didn't focus enough on the sex.

In a serious porn story, once the reader has orgasmed, you may as well just wrap it up with a cliche line (ie "After that, we did it every week.") and call it a day. Anything more is wasted. And if the reader didn't orgasm, no twist ending will fix that.

 

[sr71plt]

To me, a twist ending on a porn story seems pointless. If the reader makes it all the way to your last sentence, you didn't do your job right.

Sure, if you're just a one-shot writer.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

To me, a twist ending on a porn story seems pointless. If the reader makes it all the way to your last sentence, you didn't do your job right.

Good point. But it would be nice to write a story so good that readers still wanted to go back and finish it even with sticky fingers.

What about this: What kind of twist ending can you think of for a porn story that would work to make the sex hotter?

First thing that came to mind for me was a hot and steamy encounter between strangers in which you find out at the end that the people are actually related: brother & sister or parent and kid, separated at birth. It's been done before, but I think it's a perfect illustration of how the twist ending works: something's revealed that puts everything that's gone before into a whole new light.

And then there's the one where a woman is attacked in her bed by an apparent intruder, who then turns out to be her husband. The seeming rape was just a sex game.