 Drama: March 06, 2019 Issue [#9400] |
This week: Turning out Compelling Plot Twists Edited by: Joy  
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"I am going to sign him up for a mailing list from which he can't unsubscribe"
Mario Puzo, Godfather
“The best stories are the ones with the unexpected plot twists that no one would have guessed, even the writer.”
Shannon L. Alder
“Beneath every story, there is another story. There is a hand within the hand...... There is a blow behind the blow.”
Naomi Alderman, The Power
"I like to be surprised. Fresh implications and plot twists erupt as a story unfolds. Characters develop backgrounds, adding depth and feeling. Writing feels like exploring."
David Brin
“I have likened it to a sentinel, but its slow wheel, for the moment, was rather the prowl of a baffled beast.”
Henry James, The Turn of the Screw
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. This issue is on plot twists.
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
Please, note that there are no rules in writing, but there are methods that work for most of us most of the time.
The ideas and suggestions in my articles and editorials have to do with those methods. You are always free to find your own way and alter the methods to your liking.
Note: In the editorial, I refer to the third person singular as he, to also mean the female gender because I don't like to use "they" or "he/she."
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
I know I have encountered a great plot twist while reading a story or a novel when I come across a shocking turn of events that makes me reconsider everything I’ve previously read, and I am amazed at that twist's potential to change how I have seen and understood the story, a character, or a plot element,. Where good plot twists are concerned, last month, I read a story titled Youth by Isaac Asimov with an ending that shocked and delighted me at the same time. I consider it to be on the same level of finding out who Luke Skywalker’s was in Star Wars.
A plot twist is when something happens or when a fact is exposed, which the reader didn’t expect and couldn’t figure out in advance. To design a plot twist is an art that requires great skill and clever thinking for it requires mastery in misdirection. A gimmick or a sudden change that is shallow and overused cannot be considered a plot twist.
I believe it may be easier to come up with plot twists in novels because I tend to think more thoroughly with a novel for the average writer; however, there are and have been short story writers who have raised the art of twisting to great heights. Off the top of my head, O. Henry, Edgar Allen Poe, Stephen King, Shirley Jackson come to mind. Also, most detective stories and mysteries may have elements of surprise and plot twists in them.
With novels, like Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, most of the time the twist develops throughout the story, except the reader isn’t aware of its existence, and only at the end, that mind-blowing secret or puzzle is revealed. Yet, a twist doesn’t necessarily need to be at the end or at the climax. It can be anywhere in the story.
Here are a few plot twist facts.
 Plot twists should be believable. The writer must never force an unrealistic ending that might sound untrue and against the earlier flow of the story.
Plot twists shouldn’t be obvious. They have to be totally unexpected. Only when the reader realizes the twist has happened and goes back to read, he should be able to trace the clues.
Still, foreshadowing only to a minimum and leaving clues sparingly are crucial, and the reader shouldn’t feel cheated but rather surprised when he finds out what lies underneath.
It is a good idea to limit our plot twists in number within the same story; otherwise, they will tire out a reader's patience.
Plot twists can be used to build or reveal character, especially when you are twisting a character’s traits by using his backstory.
One plot twist that involves characters is when a character discovers something about another character or about himself. This plot twist is called anagnorisis meaning discovery. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is a good example of this.
Plot twists can create false protagonists or antagonists. If this kind of a twist is planned, the writer must have a hidden designatory protagonist or antagonist waiting to reveal himself in full force, eventually. Here is a WdC example, "Death Chamber" [13+] by W.D.Wilcox  .
Still, another twist that involves characters is peripeteia, which changes a character’s fate or fortune from bad to good or vice versa. An example of this could be another WdC story, "Invalid Item" [] by A Guest Visitor .
Setting can be used as plot twists, too. Authors like Faulkner have used them well, and the movies like The Truman Show and The Planet of the Apes also do.
Plot twists abound in mysteries and thrillers, and sometimes, suspense writers use the twists to shift suspicion from one character to another. One more WdC story as an example is "Scare Tactics" [ASR] by two of four  .
Plot twists can be anywhere in the story, even in a flashback, which is rather effective but mostly is used toward the end to leave a lasting effect on the reader.
When appropriate and fitting to the storyline, It is a good idea to offer poetic justice, which points to the result when vice is punished and virtue rewarded usually in an ironically appropriate manner.
As writers, we need to be wary of promising a plot point from the beginning and just to create a surprise, offering something totally different at the end. In addition, we must be clever in foreshadowing and burying the clues and hints subtly inside the scenes where the readers won’t be paying close attention. Above all, a plot twist has to be believable, necessary, realistic, and it has to make sense, and it is always a good idea to test our plot twists on a few beta readers.
Until next time! 
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 Enjoy!
| |  | On Family Trees (E)
While researching my family tree I discovered lots of twists and turns.
#871999 by Nada  |
He puts the blame squarely on my grandfather, and subsequent poems show how much more moral he would become, even during the war days of WW2 when arguably, his duties were oh, so rough on Antigua. Yes, those damnable, warm trade winds...
She crawled along the floor, her eyes closed against the nausea, and used her hands like a blind person's walking stick. A bullet scorched her leg. She flattened to her stomach and army-crawled on elbows, squirming her way behind the sofa.
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2147409 by Not Available. |
London town was shrouded in ghostly mist. Gray fingers of the gloom twisted and turned every street they passed into a macabre shadow of what might be instead of what was.
The figures of mother and daughter wove through the dank, moist air. Clouds wept glistening tears upon building walls as they passed. "Father? You never talk of him. Why now, mum?"
Roger turned cold eyes to stare at the young woman beside him. The pain filling her dark, green eyes nearly caused him to soften. Those eyes were so much like her mother's. Roger stiffened at the thought of Abby, the woman who abandoned them three years ago for Hank, a cowboy.
The king leaned back in his chair, taking a quick look at all the knights that had gathered before him.
"Whoever brings back the Princess from the evil Sorceress' Tower will have my Daughter's hand in marriage. Any questions?"
“Did you hear that, Jimmy?”
“Yeah. It sounded close -- up there in those hills. Probably some neighbor’s cat.”
“I’m scared. We shouldn’t have come here tonight alone .”
"Alert! Alert!" The Main Sensor indicated the approach of a possible intruder.
The Sentry initiated the alarm; its warnings pierced the air and startled all. The approaching entity changed course. Starship Chippewa was safe once again.
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This Issue's Tip: Every idea and every struggle at the beginning of the story is a promise. We must avoid making promises we cannot keep, and if we make a promise, we must note it so when tying the ends, we won't forget to include it during the closing.
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Feedback for "On the Benefits of Free-Flow Writing"
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An apple a day.... 
Thanks for sharing your "free flow" style. You gave me many ideas to get started.
Thanks for the feedback and I am glad for the ideas.
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Quick-Quill 
I have done this on a limited basis. I hear something and think. "What if?" and I write it down thinking it may turn into a story or a novel. My latest novel is from a prompt. It's been a struggle writing it as the hook was a great idea, making it into an interesting story was another thing. I've got 42K into it and I'm starting the climax to the end. I still don't know if its any good or just a dumb idea. It may just sit in my WIP file.
Thank you.
That what-if question I always ask during the planning. You never know what pops up and it is a big help, especially with the plot twists.
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Sand Castles Shopgirl 739 
Our writing group down here sponsors free-writes a couple of times a week in different areas of the county. I love them and I have kept every journal that I have used in those sessions. Not only do I love to hear how my writing partners interpret the prompts I will occasionally pull out those books and read through them. Sometimes, I am surprised at what is on the page. Very surprised. I question as to where these words came from and once in a while, mine a really good bit of writing for a poem or a story.
Thanks for the input.
Yes, what comes out never fails to surprise me, too. I am glad the free-writes are being sponsored. They are not only fun but they end up becoming good prompts, and they are our own.
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