Twists and Surprises
Jun 25, 2010 
Well, the book is coming along, and I’m anticipating finishing the first draft long before my self-imposed deadline. Yeah, it’s as much a shock to me as to anyone else, trust me. But for some reason, the act of setting myself a public deadline (and opening myself up to judgment should I fail to meet it) seems to have lit an even bigger fire under me. I expect this tactic wouldn’t keep working if I used it all the time, but clearly it’s a good tool to pull out on special occasions.
Just a quick update on that, for those keeping track. Mostly I have questions for you! And these are for writers and readers alike, because I think sometimes we as writers tend to get our perceptions of books muddled by the fact that we’re so interested in studying craft. We start looking for the complex answers when sometimes it’s the simple ones, the ones we’d have picked if we weren’t so obsessive, that are the most helpful.
So what I want to hear from you about is the subject of plot twists, secrets, shockers, and tricks. I’m getting to the end of my own book, and there are a few twists and reveals that (if I’ve done it correctly) should come as a surprise to the reader. I think, though, that twists are really hard to write. Something you’ll see a lot of in magazine’s requirements for short story submissions is that they don’t want stories with trick endings or big twists. I think this is because they’re often done so poorly, with a lot of handwaving and blatant prose that is the equivalent of the author popping out of a corner with a big sign saying “GOTCHA!” You want to be thrilled and excited and shocked–not prompted to roll your eyes and groan, like you’ve just been handed a bad pun.
One of the things I learned at the Odyssey Workshop, which falls under the category of Things I Knew Instinctively But Couldn’t Articulate, was that endings should be surprising but inevitable. Meaning, the ending should not be easily predicted through the book, and still surprise the reader, but in hindsight the reader should be able to look back and see that all the clues were there, making the ending inevitable. It’s like a good murder mystery–you don’t really want to get there long before the detective does, but you don’t want to feel like the solution came out of nowhere.
Think back over the books you’ve read, either recently or in the long distant past, that had twists in them–which ones worked? Which ones didn’t? (Try to avoid major spoilers, just in case they’re books that other people haven’t read and might some day!) Did you feel betrayed by the author, or did you get that rush of “Oh my god, this is the BEST THING EVER!” that a good twist can give you? And why?
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OMG! Twists and secrets and shockers are NOT my forte 🙁 I mean, looking back on my old drafts, I was waaay too obvious, constantly repeating the same clues and almost shouting at the reader, “This is important! Look! Note this down!”
I’m trying to be more suave about the hints…
I think Harlan Coben is a MASTER of twists. His mystery thrillers are incredibly well thought out. I think the latest I read was “Promise Me.” The ending was a shocker, I swear. But as you said, when I looked back, I realized it all made sense. It all connected.
Obviously, J.K. Rowling connects things and releases secrets like a pro 🙂
I don’t know if you like watching anime but there is one called “Hagane no Renkinjutsuhi 2009” or “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” that is simply genius.
It is filled with secrets and plots, betrayals and twists… Every episode had me at the edge of my seat, trembling with excitement!
And “Durarara” does that really well too. I love how in “Durarara,” all the characters have secrets. I mean HUGE, city-crushing secrets but nobody knows until like… the 14th episode.
–> Here, they build up the characters until you love them. Until you (think you) know them. Then they pull this huge shocker out and it leaves you completely stunned but all the clues had been there all along!
*long post is long* x)
I so know what you mean! I feel a lot of the time like I broadcast my clues–but now I’ve occasionally begun overcompensating in the other direction and erring on the side of not enough hinting! It’s such a fine line, and so hard to hit.
Ooh, all good suggestions. I don’t usually read much mystery, except for very specific series where it’s more about character (*cough* Amelia Peabody *cough*) but I might have to bite the bullet if I want to learn how to do twists and reveals. Sounds like Harlan Coben is a good place to start! I’m going to have to see if the library here has that book. 🙂
I could argue all day about JKR — I like the HP books as much as the next person but I actually had major issues with some of her “reveals”! Some were great, of course, but some felt much more like pulling the rug out from under the reader just because she could, without the proper trail of clues. (Or rather, she led a trail of clues to a conclusion that never actually came up! Misleading, grr!)
I watched the occasional anime back in high school, and have a bunch of friends who occasionally recommend shows to me now. I’ve been meaning to finally watch FMA for ages now, so maybe it’s time. 😛
Also? I <3 long comments, so whatevs...
I think the key to a good twist is to surprise the reader, and at the same time, make sure that it belongs in the story. The reader should think, “Oh my god! OF COURSE!” not roll their eyes because they can tell that the twist was just thrown in their so that the author could have a twist SOMEWHERE.
I think Diana Wynne Jones is a master of this, particularly in…well, pretty much every book she’s ever written. Also, ENDER’S GAME, by Orson Scott Card (and one of my favorite books) has a very good reveal that kind of changes everything. More recently, I read THE DEMON’S LEXICON by Sarah Rees Brennan. It had a very good, creative twist (though I did kind of anticipate that one).
Yeah, definitely! I hate it when writers just insert twists with little to no buildup or foundation, just to throw off the readers. Hello, we’re not dumb, Authorface. We know what you just did.
Dude, Ender’s Game! How could I have forgotten that one? I still love that book despite having first read it when I was really young. A lot of the books I loved when I was like 12 are not exactly my favorites anymore, but that one has endured. I still go “OMG!” at the end of that book even though I know it’s coming. I think the secret is that it affects the characters (mostly Ender himself) so profoundly that even if you know the twist is coming, seeing it hit him is affecting every single time. I’ll have to keep that in mind…
Ender’s Game is definitely one of those books I have to go back and reread every now and again. And each time is just as good as the first.
My mouth is like this right now O. Why? Because YOUR post made me realize something. I was planning a twist in my novel and now I see I need to add something in the first chapter to make it work. Thank you SO much for writing about twists.
To answer your question, I’ll take Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead as an example.
Okay, I was trying to explain it without giving away spoilers, but it’s too complicated. Let’s just say one twist shocked me BIG TIME, another twist didn’t (I saw it coming and was internally screaming for the MC to realize it) but a smaller detail made me go “Oh, that’s why he was mentioned earlier… It was for a REASON.”
Also, nothing to do with twists, but Richelle Mead pulled something off that could have been really badly handled and make me go “Seriously?”
-Kayleigh
Oooh, yay, I’m so glad you figured that out! I will preen and take credit for it even if it was technically your realization… so there. 😉
Actually, I’ve had people telling me to read those books for a while now. I’ve been resisting because I have come to dislike modern vampire fiction (call me a snob, but I miss the good old days when vampires were SCARY) but I’ve heard good things. I might have to investigate!
Oh you HAVE to read the Vampire Academy series. In it there are 3 kinds of vamps:
-Strigoi: scary, strong, can’t go out in the sun, undead, need blood
-Dhampir: can go out in the sun, very strong, protect the Moroi, eat normal food
-Moroi: weak (compared to the other two kinds), can go out in the sun but it will hurt them, need blood
VA is the best vampire series of books I’ve EVER read. And like I said, Richelle Mead pulled something off brilliantly. It could have gone SO wrong and it didn’t. Also: hot guys such as Dimitri and Adrian. Always a plus. But seriously, that series is amazing. I stayed up until 3 in the morning reading Spirit Bound! *sigh* Gotta wait until November for the next and final one. BUT she’s doing a 6-book spinoff series focusing on other characters!
PS: Even Carrie Ryan has read them: http://carrie-me.blogspot.com/2010/06/in-which-i-feel-stupid.html
The first example that comes to mind for me isn’t from a book but a TV show — the end of the first season of Veronica Mars. I never suspected who the murderer was (though I’ve heard that other people did), but as soon as the solution was revealed, I thought, “OF COURSE!”
I thought the ending of George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones had a pretty good twist. It wasn’t so much a reveal as shock that what happened would actually happen.
Oh man, YES. Normally I don’t like film/TV examples because the pace of storytelling/release of information and storytelling techniques are so different, but that one TOTALLY works. Maybe because it’s over the course of a series and so long? But yes, I asolutely LOVED that finale.
Siiigh. Yeah, one of these day you’re going to get me to actually read that book all the way through. 🙁 Maybe it will be a project to undertake while I’m here and have an uninterrupted chunk of time…