What Is A Plot Twist? The Secret To Writing A Great One

What is a plot twist? Learn how to write surprising, believable twists that keep readers guessing and make your story more memorable.

What Is A Plot Twist?

A plot twist is an unexpected story development in a work of fiction. It changes the direction or outcome of the plot from where the audience expected it would go.

Something unexpected happens. A plot twist can be clever, revealing, or shocking. If you write it well enough, it could be all three.

It is a popular literary device used in fiction. Plot twists are there to surprise an audience that feels comfortable with the direction of the story. A plot twist is either completely unexpected, or it may have been foreshadowed. It may also be used in a sub-plot.

Plot twists are particularly common in the suspense, horror, and crime genres. R.L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps series said, ‘Every story ever told can be broken down into three parts. The beginning. The middle. And the plot twist.’

A plot twist that occurs near the end of a story is also known as a surprise ending.

The Secret To Writing A Great Plot Twist

The audience should never see a plot twist coming, and yet, it must still make sense. It must be plausible. A plot twist for the sake a plot twist is a bad idea and it will irritate your audience.

A powerful plot twist usually involves the protagonist or the antagonist in a story. This is because stories revolve around these two characters.

Three Tips

Use misdirection. You can use red herrings and Macguffins to distract your readers.
Use foreshadowing. It should be subtle. If you make it too obvious, you will ruin the surprise.
Make it believable. Readers do not want to feel duped. The plot twist must be realistic enough for the reader to accept the twist.

13 Examples Of Great Plot Twists

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

If you want to surprise or shock your reader, here are 13 popular plot twists you could use.

1. Family Secrets

Example: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back— Luke discovers that Darth Vader, his greatest enemy, is actually his father. How to use it: Reveal that a character is connected to someone they know in a way they never suspected. This works especially well when it changes what the character understands about themselves.

2. Your Own Worst Enemy

Example: Fight Club — The unnamed narrator eventually discovers that he is Tyler Durden, the man he has been interacting with throughout the story. How to use it: Plant clues that seem strange on a first reading but become obvious in retrospect. A twist is especially satisfying when readers can look back and see that the truth was there all along.

3. Hiding In Plain Sight

Example: Star Wars — Emperor Palpatine appears to be a respectable political leader while secretly becoming the villain behind the conflict. How to use it: Hide the antagonist behind a convincing public persona. The best versions make the truth visible without making it obvious.

4. Unreliable Narrators

Example: Gone Girl — Amy disappears and leaves behind evidence designed to make her husband, Nick, look guilty. As the story unfolds, the reader discovers that the version of events they believed was deliberately constructed. How to use it: Give readers information that seems trustworthy but later turns out to be incomplete, misleading, or false.

5. The Ending Is The Beginning

Example: Ender’s Game — Ender believes he has been taking part in simulated battles, only to discover that they were real and that he has destroyed an alien civilisation. How to use it: Let your protagonist achieve their goal, then reveal that they misunderstood what they were actually doing. This can transform a victory into a devastating defeat.

6. Running To Stand Still

Example: The Hunger Games Trilogy — Katniss spends much of the story trying to protect her sister Prim, only for Prim to die despite everything Katniss has done. How to use it: Give your protagonist a clear goal, then make their efforts fail in the most emotionally significant way. Sometimes the harder a character fights, the worse the consequences become.

7. It Was All A Dream

Example: St. Elsewhere — The series finale suggests that the events of the show may have existed only in the imagination of an autistic child. How to use it: A dream reveal can completely change the meaning of a story, but it is risky. If readers have invested heavily in the reality of your fictional world, they may feel that their investment has been undermined.

8. I See Dead People

Example: The Sixth Sense — Malcolm Crowe helps a boy who sees ghosts before discovering that he is a ghost himself. How to use it: Make the twist surprising but plausible. When readers revisit the story, the earlier clues should support the revelation rather than contradict it.

9. Faked Death

Example: Saw — Two men find themselves trapped in a bathroom with what appears to be a dead body. The ‘corpse’ eventually rises and reveals himself as the killer. How to use it: Convince readers that a character is dead, then reveal that they have been alive all along. The deception has to be believable enough that readers accept the reveal.

10. Is This Place Real?

Example: The Truman Show — Truman gradually discovers that his entire life has been staged for a television audience. How to use it: Give the protagonist a false understanding of their world while allowing the audience to discover the truth alongside them.

11. First Impressions Can Be Wrong

Example: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone — Harry believes that Severus Snape is his enemy, only to discover that Snape has secretly been protecting him. How to use it: Build a character around a convincing first impression, then reveal that the reader has misunderstood their motives.

12. The Expected Happens To Somebody Else

Example: The Fault In Our Stars — Hazel is the character the reader expects to lose, but Augustus dies instead. How to use it: Establish an expected outcome, then give it to someone else. The twist works because the alternative remains possible within the story.

13. The Man Behind The Curtain

Example: The Wizard of Oz — The supposedly powerful Wizard is revealed to be an ordinary man using stage magic to create the illusion of greatness. How to use it: Strip away the mystery surrounding a seemingly powerful character and reveal the ordinary person behind the illusion. This can surprise readers while changing how they see everything that came before.

If you write a breath-taking plot twist, it can become a legend. Readers will remember it forever.

Plot Twist Exercises

Try using one of these to write a short story with a plot twist.

Your character is looking through an old newspaper and discovers that their love interest is not who they say they are.
Your character thinks they’ve died and gone to hell, but it turns out that they are actually in heaven.
Your character has a series of flashbacks and discovers they are the experiences of a famous historical figure who lived a double life.
Your character is made to believe an experience was all a dream when it was, in fact, real.

The Last Word

A great plot twist should surprise your readers without feeling like a trick. When the pieces fall into place, they should be able to look back and see that the clues were there all along. Give your readers that satisfying moment when everything suddenly makes sense.

Additional Reading: Harlan Coben On Writing Suspense

Source for image: Pixabay

by Amanda Patterson

What Is A Plot Twist? The Secret To Writing A Great One