Tips & Tricks to Writing on Wattpad

5 Tricks to Plot Twists

5 TRICKS TO PLOT TWISTS



1) Make them predictable

-cue stares and mutters of disbelief-
It's a plot twist! they say. It shouldn't be predictable!

I guess it is a little a matter of opinion. But I don't think plot twists should come out of nowhere. There should be some hints leading up to it. They don't have to be big hints with a lot of emphasis, they can be small things scattered here and there.
For example, let's say the love interest has an abusive father. There's two ways to show this.
There's the more obvious way, bruises all the time, rumors about it, hating to talk about his father, etc.
Or you can be more subtle, so it's more of a surprise, he could wear long shirts and pants to cover up his bruises, missing days of school and never having anyone over at his house, etc.
Of course, if you do the second choice and your MC wonders a lot about it and there's a lot of emphasis, it won't be as subtle. I talked about character reactions before. The more your character reacts, the more important it seems.
If you want it to be more of a surprise, use more subtle hints and smaller reactions, but still put in hints. I hate it when a plot twist comes out of absolutely nowhere, because then I feel like the author's making stuff up as they go. And while you might be, try not to show it.

In my opinion, plots twists should have these reactions:
First time reading: WTF? Where did that come from?
Second time reading: That makes so much more sense/I can't believe I didn't see it coming!


2) Don't make it out of character

Don't make your characters act weird just for the a surprise. If I find out the goody-goody best friend, who was raised not to swear and to wait until marriage cheated on her boyfriend, slept around with a dozen guys and got pregnant for no reason... I'd slap your book if it was a person.
I know, we don't know everything about the characters, but don't pull stuff like that. If you've already established and shown that a certain character is a certain way because of certain things, don't make them do something that goes completely against the way they are.


3) Use original plot twists

Some 'plot twists' aren't exactly surprising. For example, I barely blink an eye when there's a love triangle. If the author mentions the act without protection, then it's kind of assumed the girl with get pregnant, or think she's pregnant.
I'm not saying you can't use these, I'm just saying they're not all that surprising anymore. We've seen them all before. If you want it to be truly shocking, it's best if you don't use something that has already been in a lot of stories.
If you want to use these ideas, though, find some way to make them unique.
Say you're using the love triangle one, you could make it so the MC finds out that one of the guys is using her. Or that they're a serial killer. Or something like that.


4) Repetitive plot twists

I kind of like repetitive plot twists. I don't know if they're actually called repetitive plot twists, but what I mean, is when you expect something to only happen once, but it happens a lot more.
I don't like it, however, when it seems too coincidental.
Like all of the MC's friends getting hurt or killed within a month by car accidents. If there's some kind of drunk driver/serial killer by cars, it makes sense. But if it's all just a coincidence, it gets annoying.
I like character-driven repetitions. I think they're kind of plot twists, because once it happens one time, you don't expect it to happen again.
No, I don't mean the MC repetitively denying that the love interest is a vampire, or werewolf, or their Alpha mate.
But something like them sticking by someone who treats them horribly, or always pushing away anyone that comes close, etc. It's kind of satisfying to read when they finally get over it.

(I'm not 100% sure this counts as a plot twist, but whatever)


5) Something has to come from it

I really, really hate it when there's this huge plot twist.
And I mean huge.
That no one expected.
That goes on for, like, five chapters.
Then nothing changes because of it.
If your MC's family gets killed, something better change. She won't continue living in her house alone, and she won't be completely unscathed emotionally.
If your MC thinks she's pregnant for two chapters, she'll probably be more careful when it comes to...it, which in turn, might make a more strained relationship, or she might stop hooking up with random guys and lose some of her friends, or whatever.
If your MC finds out the love interest has an abusive parent, she might feel/grow closer to him, try to stop it, etc.

Something should come from your plot twist. It should tie into your plot.
Don't just put in a plot twist for the sake of having a plot twist.



Coming from my side as a reader. And I guess a little as a writer.

Next tip: Dialogue

~JJ :)