 Mystery: April 08, 2020 Issue [#10110] |
This week: I didn’t see that coming! Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week: "Generally my typical books have lots of twists and turns a big surprise ending and then usually another surprise at the end. Ideally, as in Garden of Beasts, we get to the very end and we find at the last few pages that there's yet another surprise."
~Jeffery Deaver |
| ASIN: 1945043032 |
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Amazon's Price: $ 13.94
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Plot twists and surprise endings are an essential element of mystery stories. A straightforward plot with no twists and turns would make a boring mystery.
Mystery readers expect twists when reading a story, and seasoned mystery fans are difficult to fool. The trick to setting up a good plot twist is to make it difficult to figure out but not impossible. When I read a mystery, I love it when I figure out the solution a fraction of a second behind the main character.
Here are a few suggestions for writing satisfying plot twists:
Give the reader all the facts
The reader should know everything the detectives or amateur sleuths in your story know. Sometimes you may need to withhold one piece of information to keep the solution from being too obvious. If that is the case, withhold that information from the characters too, until it is time to reveal the solution. An example might be a key piece of forensic evidence that is not back from the lab until the last chapter of the story.
Make it believable
Plot twists should be unexpected, but not unbelievable. All the events of the story should make sense when the solution comes together. If events or characters are not they seem to be, make sure you leave subtle clues to the true situation.
Mislead without lying
Misdirect, mislead, or distract your readers as much as necessary without actually lying to them. If you need to give your readers incorrect information, let a character do it for you. Characters can lie if they have a believable reason, but if a writer lies the readers will feel cheated.
Avoid cliches
Nothing annoys a seasoned mystery reader more than a story based on cliches. A cliche is a plot element or character type that is overused and predictable. Examples of mystery cliches are previously unknown identical twins, characters with multiple personalities, and the nice guy next door who is actually a serial killer.
Something to try: Write a mystery story with more than one plot twist.
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| | The Temple (13+)
A homeless man maintains a temple to an unlikely God accepting extreme sacrifices.
#2191232 by J.B. Ezar  |
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2118053 by Not Available. |
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