What is a Plot Twist?
A plot twist is a sudden and unexpected turn in a story that surprises the audience, shift their understanding of the plot or characters in an entirely new direction. This is a literary device used to increase depth, complexity and interest of a story. This can disrupt the reader’s accepted narrative, reveal the direction of events and show something that wasn’t really evident before. Most effective plot twists cause the reader to be shocked, amazed or satisfied.
The genres like thrillers, mysteries and horror are staples of plot twists, but they are also seen in drama, romance and even comedy. A good plot twist, when skillfully executed, can form memorable stories that reinforce long after the final page.
How to Write a Plot Twist?
To create a good plot twist is all about carefully balancing foreshadowing, suspense and subtlety. Here are some important tips for writing an effective plot twist:
1- Establish Expectations
To make a twist surprising, you actually need to set up a baseline of expectation. They allow the readers a comfortable sense of where the story is headed. This is important because the twist has a great ability to cause problems when the direction changes.
2- Use Foreshadowing Wisely
Foreshadowing is the precise way to suggest the twist without revealing it. In this way, small clues in the story are placed that don’t seem very important at first glance. When the twists occur, the audience realize these indications in front of them all along, which makes it more coherent and purposeful.
3- Subvert Assumptions
Take advantage of readers’ natural inclination to make assumptions. Get them to draw conclusions about the ending, and then subvert the conclusion in a way that feels surprising, but ultimately logical.
4- Stay True to Characters and Story
Plot twists should always be used to advance the story as well as the characters’ development. Don’t twist things so it seems forced or out of place. It should be such a natural, if surprising, evolution of the story.
5- Build Tension and Release It
A build up of suspense can often lead to an effective twist. One of the most exciting moments as a reader is when you are anticipating a resolution, and suddenly the direction of the story twists just enough to surprise you.
Types of Plot Twists
There are multiple kinds of plot twists, each having a different use in the story. Here are some popular types of plot twists:
1- Red Herring
A red herring is a clue or piece of information that misleads the readers. It is a good way of diverting thought away from the true answer in mysteries.
2- Reversal of Fortune
A reversal of fortune is a change in a character’s circumstances from the good to the bad or vice versa, without warning. This type of twist creates emotion tension and make the stakes higher than normal.
3- Unreliable Narrator
If the narrator of a story is unreliable, readers will eventually come to realize the narrator has kept back or misled them about something important. This twist turns the way in which readers interpret the past.
4- Flashback Twist
A flashback twist reveals previously undisclosed facts from one of the character’s pasts, changing the nature of the current story. This will often reframe characters’ motivations and bring new light to the plot.
5- Identity Reveal
An identity reveal shows the true identity of a character, surprising the audience and other characters. In many cases, this twist has a disguised character or a certain, hidden relationship.
Examples of Plot Twists in Literature
Here are some examples of plot twists in the literature:
Example#1
“The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” by Agatha Christie
“The whole thing, I need hardly say, was arranged between us. She had been talking to me, and to no one else. I left the room immediately afterward, and I went straight out of the house. I did not see the body, but of course, I knew he was dead. I knew that my double life was over, for now, I would have to pay the price.”
In this novel, the author manipulates a mysterious narrator to create one of the most shocking twists of mystery fiction. The story has been told by Dr. Sheppard, a close friend of the detective Hercule Poirot.
`Throughout the novel, he seems to be trustworthy as he observes Poirot in attempting to investigate the murder of Roger Ackroyd. In the final revelation, Poirot reveals Dr. Sheppard as the killer.
This is a breakthrough twist because it flips the reader’s expectations on their head. Christie chooses the murderer to be the narrator, deceiving the reader and their inherent trust in the narrator by employing Dr. Sheppard’s internal monologue and behavior to make up the deceptive narrative.
This creates a powerful effect on the reader, whose realization that the narrator has been shielding his guilt all this time, where it ultimately gets to him, resonates long after the book is finished.
Example#2
“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier
“You thought I loved Rebecca? You thought that? I hated her! Our marriage was a farce from the very first. She was vicious, damnable, rotten through and through. We never loved each other. Never had one moment of happiness together. Rebecca was incapable of love, of tenderness, of decency.”
In this novel, the reader and the protagonist are led to believe that Maxim de Winter, the brooding widower, still loves his first wife, Rebecca. It is subsequently revealed that Maxim never loved Rebecca but hated her.
She was manipulative and cruel, and there were secrets and resentment in the marriage. This revelation turns the story on its head, modifying Maxim’s actions and the ghost of Rebecca in a new light.
This twist shows the actual relationship between Rebecca and Maxim, and how the readers should think of both characters. The twist in the novel shatters the romanticized view of the protagonist for her husband and the former Mrs. de Winter, which complicates the love triangle and moral ambiguity of the story.
This twist shows du Maurier revealing the lie behind the idyllic first marriage, which leaves the reader to question the true meaning of love and loyalty.
Example#3
“Shutter Island” by Dennis Lehane
“You’ll be fine, Chuck. You’re Teddy Daniels. You’re a man with a strong moral core. A man with a righteous heart, who works with the law. A man who stands up to evil. A man who has lost his wife. You came here to find a man. You came here to end your own misery.”
U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is sent to a mental institution on Shutter Island to look into the disappearance of a patient. The story continues and Teddy becomes more consumed by the mysteries of the institution.
It turns out that Teddy isn’t dead, but rather one of the patients undergoing therapy at the asylum, and suffering from extreme delusions and paranoia. It was a role playing exercise for him to help him confront his reality.
The twist is Teddy’s reality versus illusion, displaying how Teddy’s own mind has crafted an elaborate fantasy to run away from the implications of his wife’s passing. This twist reanimates every interaction and detail in the novel, adding a psychological depth that makes the reader question his or her own perspective.
The twist allows Lehane to examine the ideas of guilt, trauma and how far people are willing to go to shield themselves from things they don’t want to accept.
Example#4
“Atonement” by Ian McEwan
“But now I can no longer think what purpose would be served if, say, I tried to persuade my readers, by way of footnotes, or an appendix, or even an epilogue, that my account of Robbie Turner and Cecilia Tallis’s happiness, or that of their love, had no possibility of ever being. Or that when I write of the lover’s happiness at the close, I do it with the absolute certainty that it could never have happened.”
Here, a young girl, Briony Tallis, mistakenly alleges Robbie Turner, the lover of her sister Cecilia, of a crime he didn’t commit. This leads to a tragic chain of events. Briony recounts a happy reunion of Robbie and Cecilia, and the story appears to end on a hopeful note.
The twist comes that this ending isn’t real. Now an elderly woman, Briony confesses that she had written the happy ending to compensate for her actions, as the lovers’ true fates were decidedly far from happy.
This twist makes the whole story not a recounting of facts but as an act of atonement. With Briony rewriting the ending, McEwan makes the themes of guilt, redemption, and the power of storytelling in creating reality.
In this twist, Briony’s character is shown with more emotion and the readers have to face the painful truth of the consequences of her doing. It speaks poignantly to the power — and the limitations — of fiction as a means of redemption.
Example#5
“Life of Pi” by Yann Martel
“So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?”
The harrowing story by Pi Patel about a survival of a lifeboat stuck with a Bengal tiger, Richard Parker, after a shipwreck in Life of Pi. At the end of the novel, Pi offers an alternative narrative, in which he was the sole human among cruel, inhuman human companions.
This version shows that the animals may be metaphors for these people, which leaves the readers to choose between the two narratives.
The twist puts into question the limits between the reality and imagination. It challenges the reader to discern which story is true. This twist allows Martel to explore the themes of faith, resilience and how storytelling is a human need to survive.
The novel continues to be an enduring story about the human spirit, by presenting two conflicting narratives, that make the readers ponder the nature of truth and the power of belief.
See also: Examples of Point of View in Literature
Literary Terms Related to Plot Twist
1- Foreshadowing
A literary device that is used for indication to future events in a delicate manner. Usually, it’s in the form of a small and meaningless details that are important as the plot progresses. Foreshadowing is important in creating believable plot twists to make the twist surprising and inevitable.
2- Deus Ex Machina
Deus ex machina is a plot device of high improbability whereby an unsolvable problem is resolved by some sort of divine intervention. Although sometimes criticized as contrived, this device can be used very well to give shocking ending that turns the plot of story.
3- Chekhov’s Gun
Chekhov’s Gun is a principle which describes that every element in a story should be essential and not be replaceable. An item should be introduced if it serves a purpose in the plot. For example, an item (a gun) is introduced as it has a purpose in the plot. From this device, one can learn the importance of setup and payoff, which are key to a satisfying plot twist.
See also: Literary Devices That Start With P
