Twisted Turns: Revisiting Classic Plot Twists
Plot Twists: they’ve been used countless times in books, media, and stage productions. It’s a classic writing technique that, at its core, serves a simple purpose – to give your audience that “Say what?!” moment when they reach the end. As a writer, successfully incorporating a twist into your plot will not only give your readers that jolt of shock value, but they will then revisit the plot with 20/20 hindsight vision, rereading to spot every little “seed” you, as the author, planted along the way: tiny breadcrumbs that lead to the ultimate reveal.
The term “plot twist” can be interpreted in different ways. For today, we’re going to discuss three of the most popular twists and then look at some ways you can tweak the twist in your own writing.
“A Tangled Web You Weave”: The Liar Revealed
“The Liar Revealed” is a twist that can be a bit difficult to adapt in your writing because of its popular use, especially in media. Animated films such as “Rango” and “Shark Tale” and classic literature like “Aladdin” (from “The Arabian Nights”) have used this character type in such a way that the outcome can feel a bit formulaic. For example, the audience usually knows very early on who the liar is, so the surprise is only for characters within the plot itself – which is totally fine! There’s nothing wrong with your readers knowing the “insider secret” before the characters do (more on this later). However, popular media tends to overlook two important aspects which, inevitably, go hand in hand with a liar being revealed: accountability and consequences. Because everyone likes a happy ending, it can be very easy to have a moment of shock, anger, betrayal when the revelation occurs, and by the end all is forgiven.
Tips and Tricks:
#1: Change the Character.
We know the narrative where the (male) protagonist is the character who lies and is later revealed, usually around a climatic and/or emotionally driven point of the narrative, but this is a very easy formula to tweak and twist with the holy grail that is “What if?”
What if your protagonist is female? How does the impact of the revelation change? Does the impact of the revelation change?
What if the “liar” is a side character who weaves a yarn so they can join the hero on his great quest?
What if the person weaving this web of lies is the villain? Are you the only one in on this secret, or does your audience know too? (More on this soon!)
#2: Motivation.
What is your character’s motivation to lie in the first place? Let’s be honest – it’s very easy to come up with a reason behind a white lie, or to just not tell the truth, so the possibilities are endless.
Is your character like Aladdin, who longs for a life of splendor and wealth, leave his world of poverty behind, and marry the beautiful princess – but has nothing to his name, save for a magic lamp (or magic ring…or both) with three wishes waiting to be fulfilled?
Does this whole thing start off as a misunderstanding and your character chooses to not correct anyone because the erroneous assumption has drastically elevated her social status? Is she motivated purely by ego, or has she been struggling with the glass ceiling and not telling the truth has finally given her access to a new world of opportunities?
Is there a more sinister reason behind the lies? Rather than a series of white lies prompted by accident or a change in luck, are the lies intentional, serving a slow burn of an ongoing scheme – and if so, what is the end game?
#3: Accountability and Consequences.
One of the greatest appeals of fiction writing is to give your readers an escape from the dull details of everyday living. This being said, you will want to keep certain components of follow-through in mind, especially when you’re working with a twist in your story. Remember that lack of follow-through can feel like loose threads, and readers will start pulling and plucking the strings if given the opportunity. So, ask yourself a simple question: when the jig is up and the lie has been revealed, what are the consequences?
Does Aladdin get his happy ending or is he forced back into poverty with nothing but regrets and a broken heart?
Is the social status ripped away from your female lead and she loses all respect in the eyes of friends and family?
When the villain’s lies are exposed, does he go quietly into that good night or does he suffer a climactic demise at the hand of your hero (or heroine)?
If you’re interested in an excellent workbook to start creating your character, look no further than T.M. Holladay’s “The Only Character Workbook You’ll Ever Need: Your New Character Bible.” This is a fully detailed character workbook complete with character profiles for your primary, secondary, and minor character groups, different personality types, and extra pages for notes as new ideas come to you.
“Devil Behind the Curtain”: The Twist Villain
I’ll go ahead and say it – Disney has become very fond of this twist with films like “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” “Zootopia,” “Coco,” and (arguably most famously) “Frozen.” It’s the character that starts off as a congenial, friendly type and then turns out to be anything but, with a hidden agenda that works directly against the protagonist. The main problem with this character is fairly obvious: your readers will relate to them one way for most of the narrative and then must adjust their perceptions when their true nature is revealed. Consequently, some readers can struggle with connecting to a character whose motivations and personality are hidden for so much of the story. However, this doesn’t mean your villain can’t be a twist in the story – just maybe not the one readers initially expected.
Tips and Tricks:
#1: To Hide or Not to Hide: This is the Question.
Remember, the villain can be a twist to your characters, not your audience. Some of the most iconic bad guys (and gals!) are known to the reader from the very beginning but remain a mystery to the characters within the story itself until the dramatic unveiling. When you start off letting the audience know exactly who the villain is, you get to go classic with the character design, including a name that befits someone who just might become one of literature’s future favorite antagonists.
#2: Let Readers Connect with the Dark Side.
Allowing your readers to identify the villain from the beginning grants them the ability to experience their character and their journey consistently with no whiplash at an unexpected reveal. Let’s use Disney as an example (spoiler alert):
Prince Hans (“Frozen”): This is a character that starts off as pleasant, cordial, and seemingly as susceptible to love’s open door as one of our heroines, Princess Anna. We know him for most of the film as sincere, kind-hearted, and fairly supportive of Anna’s determination to save her sister. In the last third of the film, however, we get a bit of a jarring twist to see Hans intends to get the sisters out of the way and claim the throne for himself. After this reveal, any moment we see him playing his genteel role from earlier feels incredibly fake and leaves us scrambling to re-relate to his character as scheming, manipulative, and ruthlessly ambitious.
Percival C. McLeach (“The Rescuers Down Under”): First of all, iconic name for an iconic character. This is a character that comes on the screen as a poacher and stays on the screen as a poacher. He’s merciless in his ambitions, driven by greed, and there is no low to which he will not sink – including the kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment of a child and animal cruelty. His motivations are clear from the beginning: to poach the second of a pair of great golden eagles and make a “filthy rich” profit.
A character like McLeach is one you can have quite a bit of fun with, simply because you don’t have to expend energy trying to cover up the villainy with a fake personality. A sympathetic villain has its own perks but giving your readers a character who revels in their misdeeds can be a real delight. Also, the more despicable you make your character, the more you can plan their ultimate demise and leave your readers with a sense of immense satisfaction.
Step #3: Tweak the Twist.
The benefit of utilizing twists, both in plot and character, is that the twist is only limited to your imagination at the author. If you have a character identified to the readers as the villain, ask yourself how you can still twist the ending in a way that surprises your audience.
If your villain disguises herself throughout the narrative via a web of lies, ask yourself two questions: how the reveal happens and what the outcome will be.
Does her deception result in her downfall, or does she achieve her long-coveted power when the people elevate her to a position of power because they’re impressed with her cunning mind and see her manipulative tactics as excellent leadership skills?
“How do I even start to create a memorable villain?” Glad you asked. Sacha Black has you covered with “13 Steps to Evil: How to Craft Superbad Villains.” This step-by-step guide to creating your villain from the ground up will walk you through creating the character’s mindset and how to balance the tropes you need with the clichés you don’t need.
“Fooled You!”: The Twist Ending
It’s a classic, it’s a favorite, and it’s very popular – the ending you thought you had figured out and then boom! Rug yanked from under your feet. For the horror, mystery, and thriller genres, this is always a fun go-to surprise to give your readers a final little charge before the curtain falls. Robert Bloch’s novel “Psycho” is infamous for its twist ending (even a double twist ending) and Richard Matheson’s “I Am Legend” not only provided a twist that jarred the novel’s main character but gave readers deeply provoking ideas to consider even after they closed the book.
From a writer’s perspective, the build-up to your twist ending can be an enjoyable exercise of creating little hints (again, breadcrumbs) to drop along the way. This is where plotting out your story in an outline will be very useful. There is no correct way to do this – it’s all about what works for you:
Outline plot points in a notebook.
Use a workbook to detail out plot points and how they relate to the twist.
Create a plot map on an empty wall in your office (or living room, closet, etc.)
Mark the “breadcrumb” in red to keep track of which hint has been dropped at which point in the story.
Whichever way you choose plant your seeds, make sure it doesn’t come across as painfully obvious to your readers. If they’re going to guess what the ending will be, and they will, make them work for it.
Time to Write!
As a writer, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel – and really, why would you? What a pain that would be, to have to start over from scratch, read every single book that’s ever been written and somehow obtain telepathic powers so you can see every story idea that’s still floating around in someone’s head but might be written one day. Someone may have already written the general idea you’re thinking about right now, but I guarantee no one else has been inside your head and asked the same “What if?” in the exact same way that you’re asking now.
Now, take all three of these twists – a liar revealed, a twist villain (to your readers or to your characters – your choice!), and a twist ending – and put them all in the same story.
I look forward to reading what you come up with.
