 Mystery: November 24, 2021 Issue [#11068] |
This week: Plot Twist!!! Edited by: Lilli 𧿠â  
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| Not everything in this week's newsletter is necessarily about âplot twistsâ â some of them can just be referenced during your âWell, now what?â moments. I'll sort them from most to least drastic, so you can find just the right âtwistâ for your story. |
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 Kill someone off
This is about as drastic as it gets! But it certainly is effective; especially for mystery writers. Tip: the more time the reader has to bond with the character, the sadder the death will be!
Almost kill someone off
Give one of your characters a near-death experience. Maybe s/he falls fatally ill and they donât know what caused it, and maybe they learn in the worst way that the disease is contagious.
Perhaps a character falls from a great height â off a roof or a cliff, maybe â and they donât know whether he survived or not. Explore some ideas!
A hurricane sweeps the coast
What do your main characters do? How does the natural disaster affect the story?
Your protagonist has to assume a secret identity
Does s/he do it to protect themselves, or others? What is their secret identity? How far will s/he go to maintain it?
Reveal (or hint at) a traitor
Whoâs been secretly giving information to the bad guy? The best friend? The lover? The parent? Bonus points if the POV character is close to the traitor. Extra bonus points if he was only betraying them to protect them. Oooh, hereâs another one: is the POV character the traitor?!
Take away the object crucial to their success
Did they lose the map? Or was it stolen? Are your characters starting to blame each other for the loss?
A character disappears
Don't give an explanation about why too soon. Maybe the character was supposed to meet up with another and never showed. Is it common for that character to always be punctual or maybe they're always late? But this time they just don't show.
Whenever possible, apply Murphyâs Law: âAnything that can go wrong will go wrong.â
So basically, imagine the worse possible thing that could happen to your characters, and go from there. For an extra punch: make it even worse than the worst.
Give one of your characters a secret
This is so simple itâs almost unbelievable. A character secret is great for reader engagement, character development, and plot advancement. Is a secondary character secretly working for/friends with the bad guy? Is the main character hiding something deep and scary from everyone (even the reader)? Is someone close to the main character acting funny? Donât reveal the secret right off the bat though. Leave the reader wondering, but not too long! If you drag it out too far, your reader might lose interest.
Introduce some kind of blackmail
What secret information about your main character does the other character â friend or foe â possess? Or is your main character blackmailing someone else? Are they being forced to do it, or was it their own choice? What if there is an entire chain of blackmail?
Be sure to let me know if you try any of these! I'd love to read your story! |
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Quick-Quill  wrote:
"I just finished reading The Stolen Hours by Allen Eskens. I blew past important clues that were dropped so subtly when the ending revealed the cohort, I was shocked. Allen is a great writer and each book shows how much he's progressed. I've not loved EVERY book but each one shows me an author can have an amazing plot one time and a not-so-amazing one the next time but still keep readers looking for the next one."
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