How to Write a Plot Twist

hello everybody today I'm covering one of your most requested topics and that is plot twists a plot twist is a drastic change in the plot or direction of a novel and writers use them as a way to surprise their readers and keep them interested in the story as a writer and a reader I am a huge fan of plot twists because they have the power to take the story to a whole new level a good book will leave you feeling awed and inspired but a good book with a great plot twist will blow your mind now some of you folks have told me that you're a little concerned about writing plot twists you know exactly how your story needs to go and it's kind of predictable you're not sure how you can throw a plot twist into a predictable storyline here not my fellow cyborgs I'm here to help sometimes certain elements of a story are predictable and there's not much you can do about it some writers are totally able to surprise the reader and kill off their protagonists but other writers need the protagonists to win the battle they need the protagonists to get the hot girl or the beefcake guy and the reader totally sees it coming it's fine if you've got to give in to the readers predictions but you can still do it in a way that they're totally not expecting at all this is the power of the plot twist it can take the most predictable story and still make it exciting and unexpected that said I'm going to give you a few plot twist techniques that you can implement into your writing a couple things to keep in mind these techniques can be combined in fact I encourage it you can take elements of any of these types of plot twists and mix them together and I'll be using very professional technical terminology when I describe these plot twists that's a lie number one that's how did I not see this coming plot twist now the whole point of a plot twist is you're not supposed to see it coming but with this particular plot twist once the big moments revealed the reader says to themselves how did I miss that it all makes sense now they're suddenly able to piece together clues from the text that they totally missed the first time around the way to achieve this effect is to scatter teeny hence throughout the text like little breadcrumbs and the trick is to be subtle about these hints because you don't want your reader picking up on them you want them to be surprised once the plot twists hits the easiest way to make these hints fly under the radar is to scatter them in moments where the reader's attention is directed elsewhere the spotlight of the moment is on the romance the danger the humor not on that itty-bitty hint that you Nestle them at the dialog now if you're going with this option beta readers are going to be your best friend because you'll be able to tell if your hints were subtle enough based on the feedback they give to you if you're reviewing a chapter with a beta and they point directly to a hint and say what's that about that's not a good sign if you reach the water your predictions question and they predict the exact plot twist you have planned that's also not a good sign beta readers are gonna be pivotal in telling you whether you hit or missed the mark number two the ain't what it seems plot twist this plot twist is commonly referred to as redirecting suspicion throughout the whole book you have your reader convinced that the villain is the school bully then they get to the climax and lo and behold the villain is the protagonists best friend what the hell gotcha my gotcha the trick here is to make your readers feel certain of a particular outcome they know exactly what's going on and exactly how this story's gonna go and they're wrong one of the ways to go about this is to implement a red herring which is a tool used to mislead the reader if you're writing a story that involves an element of whodunit then a red herring could be a character that seems like the perfect culprit he's got to be the bad guy your reader then becomes so convinced of his guilt that any other possibility just seems crazy in my opinion if you want to get your reader convinced of a particular outcome you gotta get them emotionally invested if you're redirecting suspicion from the actual villain to a red herring then the red herrings gotta be pretty hateable readers will be too caught up in their hatred to pursue other possibilities on the flip side if the plot twist reveals that the love interest is actually the villain then the love interest has got to be pretty lovable the reader will be too busy swooning to even consider his betrayal number three the psyche it's not over plot twist this is the kind of plot twist that really showed cases just how evil writers are it's also my favorite which shouldn't be surprising this is a plot twist that happens once everything's good the battle is won the conflicts been solved your characters are feeling fantastic then the merciless narrator shows up and says just kidding I'm about to your whole world up plot twist like this typically have the most impact when they happen at or around the climax but they can really show up at any point in the book the key is that they show up right when the story gets calm your characters have just gotten out of a difficult situation and they're finally able to kick back and relax the moment they start to decompress it's your job to drop a worst case scenario into their lap just think of the shittiest thing that could happen in that moment and make it so maybe your protagonist has been busting his ass trying to get his family to approve of his fiancee and once they finally do he goes to tell her the good news and he finds her in bed with another man give your characters and your readers a false sense of comfort let them think that they can finally breathe for a moment and then all over their hopes and dreams and number four though where did that come from plot twist this is a plot twist that happens unprovoked and out of nowhere your characters are just living their lives in book land and suddenly a wild plot twist appears what separates this plot twist from the others is that you're essentially creating a problem that the readers didn't anticipate or you're answering a question that they didn't know they had in the first place quite often plot twists arise from situations that the readers already aware of they know there's a bad guy they just don't know who he is they know there was an epic battle they just assumed it was already over and done with but with this plot twist the information presented is brand spankin new your main character was switched at birth their mom was an alien and their dad was a teeny tiny bunny rabbit don't use that blood twist now when it comes to this plot twist you got to be careful because of all the options presented this one has the greatest risk of coming off as a gimmick the reader might feel like you're grabbing at straws to keep their attention the text was getting kind of slow so you're through in an alien bunny rabbit love child to keep things moving they also might feel like you just made a mistake especially if the plot twist is so far-fetched it just doesn't feel like it belongs in the novel at all so if you're going to drop this kind of on the reader make sure it's a well-placed bomb and that it fits with the story and what's the easiest way to verify this beta readers so there you have it those are some of my favorite types of plot twists keep in mind you can combine these they don't need to exist separately no matter how you go about it a plot twist is a great way to keep your readers on their toes and make the story feel unpredictable on that note don't forget to subscribe to my channel I post new videos on Wednesdays he of the awakening is still available in eBook and paperback on Amazon right now you can also order a signed copy all the links are listed below and if you have any questions or if there's something you'd like me to talk about in my next video be sure to tweet me at generosity bye

Channel: Writing with Jenna Moreci

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Keywords: write, writer, writing, read, reader, reading, book, books, publishing, plot, plot twist, humor, inspiration, comedy, motivation, author, novel, letters, publish, amazon, goodreads, greatreads

Id: xpNTX2O9xa0

Length: 7min 1sec (421 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 08 2016