Without them, your reader is not engaged. With too many, your audience is confused. What is the perfect balance for rewarding mystery stories?
What is a Plot Twist?
By engaging yourself in a mystery story or thriller, you develop a vested interest in the outcome. From the outset, you learn character names, their backgrounds, and motivations. Whether it’s a page-turning book, an article, or audio, the approaching conclusion is a treasured reward.
A plot twist maintains reader engagement by diverting from an anticipated outcome. It’s like being on a train that suddenly switches tracks while you have the station in sight. Has the train been highjacked? Are we heading to a different station? The detour introduces more questions that require answers.
Your writing needs all the help it can get. You’re competing for the time with motion pictures and animated videos. For a good plot-twisting foundation, build clues that can have multiple effects.
Just as it appears everything is heading in one direction, another manifests itself based either on the same set of clues or additional ones. So character A seems guilty by circumstance, but character B has a motive.
Perhaps investigators are drawing conclusions based on evidence to the left. But when evidence on the right is available, you have a plot twist. Within a multi-chapter story, each one typically ends with a good plot twist.
When is a Plot Twist Irritating?
Plot twists prevent stories from being so linear that the reader figures out the ending early in the story. With a predictable conclusion, readers lose interest in continuing. If they learn that your writing includes plot twists, they will look forward to the switches.
Pace them out with sufficient intervals. A comfortable guide within multiple chapters is one or two plot twists per thousand words. Random twists make it appear as though the writer is unclear on which direction to go.
Five or more twists within a thousand words can confuse readers unless they’re logically planned. With a limited word count, it may be better to strengthen the foundation for each pivot.
Are You Ready for Some Plot Twists?
The ClinicalNovellas include short stories and novellas that are available to read or listen to online in episodes making up multiple miniseries. Episode length varies from under 1000 words to over 1500.
Dramas may have a few scenes that catch you by surprise. But the mysteries and thrillers adhering to previously stated guidelines will knock your socks off. So if you begin one, no outcome is off the table.
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Do you like a good plot twist? Enjoy the mysteries at no cost with multi-voice audio. Login for nail-biting conclusions as a twist in pace from our standard health articles.
