The Best Plot Twists Surprise the Author First
By Rick Eve
"No tears for the author, no tears for the reader."
This quote is often attributed to the great American poet, Robert Frost. That in itself is an inspiration for us writers to dig deep, to brave those icky emotions within ourselves.
Whether you’ve stuck the above reminder to the rim of your computer monitor, or you’ve already learned the lesson well, you’re done with writing the way you did four books ago.
The quote is occasionally expanded to "No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader."
Beyond the deep emotions we craft into the characters, we should be prepared for that moment when we, the author of this character’s life, exclaim to ourselves, “What the hell? Didn’t see that coming!”
Out of nowhere, you’ve experienced the story surprising the author. This is a good thing. It is not undiagnosed ADHD. This is not the red-chili burrito from lunch arguing with your intestines.
Suddenly, your fingers have followed the character down some path that wasn’t in the plan, not part of the original plot, and nowhere on the Save-the-Cat flowchart.
When Your Story Takes an Unexpected Turn
You could always just delete this wild idea, but you don’t. Instead, you wonder if this welcome surprise could become The Big Twist, and find a place in the story. Perhaps, it could expand this story-line into something more. Three pages in, and you sit back to consider how this could change everything. (And very likely, you’ll need to go back to the beginning to check for continuity issues that might arise from the unplanned plot-line.) And ten minutes later, you’ve finished an entire chapter that steers the plot into a hard left.
Here are three times my own stories completely surprised me.
Example #1: Discovering the Villain Wasn't the Villain
Three-quarters of the way into the book, the Victim and the Anti-hero/Protagonist are discussing why the murderous Villains could be so insanely homicidal. And to my surprise, a (then) secondary character reveals to them both that all of the Villains’ children are being poisoned, dying an excruciating death due to a cataclysmic ecological disaster. Yes, actually, the bad guys are just broken-hearted parents, doing what they can to save every child on their planet. To save their own species from extinction.
Well…shucks. That changes things. I mean, who wouldn’t do everything possible to save their child? And in a moment, the scope of the story tripled in size. The emotional presence sunk deep, making the highs so much higher.
Example #2: An Ending I Never Planned
In another book, about two-thirds in, a secondary character is bullying the Anti-hero, calling her out in front of the wide mirror in a crowded women’s restroom at a rock concert. Tearing her down. You furry-headed bimbo. Pretty? Maybe. But not quite pretty enough for him. Much later, I’m writing the very last chapter, downhill from the explosive climax, the Happily Ever After warming nicely in the reader’s heart. Almost done. Wrapping it up. And…Surprise!
The End. Nope. Not yet, you don’t. Anti-hero has a darker side, and it’s payback time.
In an entirely unplanned Extra Unhappy Ending, the Anti-hero has the Bathroom Bitch in a mental reverse hold. Our Anti-Hero creates a realm where the unlucky character is seated in a front of a French Provincial vanity, staring into the mirror, applying layer after layer of makeup, then scrubbing it off to start over. For all eternity. And when Bathroom Bitch has a rare moment of bravery, Anti-hero returns in person to remind her bully in the same evil whisper, “Not quite pretty enough.”
This surprise second ending above created a Big Twist which brought encouraging reviews for my top-selling YA SciFi.
Example #3: When the Villain's Baby Took Over the Story
My last example of being surprised while writing occurred when I was truly stuck. In the sequel, the plot required that the Villain (a cyborg) gets pregnant and gives birth. She did the former, and she’s in labor. Just in time for me to run out of story. Days go by with nothing typed, no ideas. Guess who arrives to save me. Yep, the baby. Still inside Mom, he’s already wide awake, learning quickly, and needs to take his first breath right now. But like me, he’s stuck and can’t get out. To his mother’s surprise (and mine) he literally claws his way out the front of her.
Well…damn. That hurt. And I’m now short one all-important villain. Even worse, he eats the nurse. Did I plan for that? No, I did not. Was that in the script? Did my story outline show ‘baby kills mom?’ No, and no.
And it was perfect.
Junior becomes a far more powerful and evil Villain than mom ever could, launching the last half of the story into an entirely new direction. Again, the story expanded beyond what I had originally hoped for. By the end of that writing day, there grew numerous new plot lines, memorable characters, more Big Twists, and opportunities for several more What the Hell moments for the reader.
Why I Didn't Delete the Scene
I could’ve written ‘baby rips his way out of mom’, and then deleted it. It’s gross and cruel.
However, I trusted the character knew what he was doing. I followed his line of reason, his psychopathic start to life. My concerns for this sequel turning out to be a sophomore effort vanished, as the story leapt onward from this one very unexpected moment. As for Cyborg Mom, I gave her a slight reprieve, allowing her consciousness to restart in another body. Though she was in no position to bother anyone, she became a window for the reader to glimpse new depths of evil on the horizon.
Trust the Story More Than the Outline
Typing away at Chapter Nine in what is now my eighth novel, I’ve got a long way to go. I do not have more than a cursory plot line. This is Book One of a planned five-book series, my first attempt at a character arc that must last for years. All I know is that I’m going to somehow kill off the main character in the second-to-last chapter of Book Four. Hopefully, she will have the decency to respect her Creator, and clue me in on just how the heck I’m supposed to bring her back for Book Five.
Final Thought: Surprise Me
Alright, young lady.
Surprise me.
Has one of your characters ever surprised you by taking the story in a direction you never planned? Tell us what happened in the comments.
About the Author
Rick Eve grew up in a family that read every SciFi book, watched every SciFi TV show, and attended every big-screen movie with aliens, space travel, or robots.
Mother loved to write, and Dad worked for a company that manufactured rockets and missiles. To write SciFi stories is just the natural progression, I believe.
With seven books to market now, there's a couple for Midgrade, a YA (my favorite), a hard-SciFi duology, and a SFF. The latest release is a Mystery with SciFi elements.
Born in Tucson, Arizona, he now resides just up the street in Marana. Married for thirty years, our youngest son is ready to move out on his own. A recent addition to the family is a little rescue mutt who alternates between naps and utter destruction.
Photo by Alex Moliski on Unsplash
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I so love it when that happens… I wish I knew how to make it happen more. In my domestic thriller, I released last year, I didn’t plan it twist at the end. I thought everyone would know whodunnit. Today, I’ve only heard of one person who got it right.
That was a different kind of surprise for me. Great blog.
Laura, I'm so pleased you enjoyed the post. As far as how the surprise happens, for me anyway, it's about trusting that 'we will get there together'. In a world where our car's GPS map tells us how to get to the local grocery store, we need to let go of needing to know anything. Then trust that we will discover something better.
I always have an end in mind, but I don't script how to get there. I don't think of anything as surprising and I do delete anything that won't hit my end eventually, but since I never know what's next ...
I should state this is only true for the initial drafts, where there is room for play and many paths exist.
I believe even if you have a strong idea of your plot that your characters’ personalities and experience are unavoidable considerations o factor in. So, usually for the better, plots changes, sub-plots arise, and if you’re successful everything and everyone merge together to form a highly satisfying ending.
Have my characters surprised me?Yes! Indubitably!! Experienced both your example #1 and example #2 while writing my first two books. The first book was easy to correct; I’d literally written two separate stories–with separate objectives and separate “villains.” In the ‘second’ book I began with a textbook villain (religious zealot), which I felt had been overdone in recent years. So, halfway through, I developed a pair of villains who remain unidentified throughout about half the book. I gave each flashback scenes to their youth to jolt readers curiosity, a la ‘who are they, they seem important,’ but even in scenes where they early appear I don’t draw and lines between them and the flash backs. And, for added fun, I kept my originally intended villain active, because he becomes their intended “fall guy.”
Your example #3, Ewww–you lost me with the horror. Too gross, and I’ve never been into in-your-face, beat-you-over-the-head unsubtlety.
Yes -
It's my goal to make surprise endings. My first book I had a typical, adorable ending.
and then. I changed it. In every sense. I might add there was a sad portion and I CRIED every time I edited it.
I like to make it be: the least likely. Or: the obvious but convoluted.
And usually I never see it coming!
That's always fun.
I can't read Chapter One of my Mostly Flame Burns without blubbering like a Kleenex commercial.
Hopefully, she will have the decency to respect her Creator,and clue me in on just how the heck I’m supposed to bring her back for Book Five.
Final Thought: Surprise Me
Answer: Bring her back as a ghost.
Bring her back as a ghost. Hmmm. Okay, that's something surprising. Just need to tweak it from Fantasy realm-ish to SciFi techiness. Nice!
I've thrown things at a character which changed how things progress--not quite the same thing.
Yes,I've been surprised by my characters. In The Wolves of
Vimar series, book 1, a young thief called Thad refused to go with the men to clean up in the river after a fight. The women had already washed the blood off.
After threats, Thad revealed himself as a girl who had disguised herself as a boy and run away so she would be sent for training as a courtesan. I knew nothing of this!
And in Book 2, one character died from having been tortured, while in book 1, I also didn't know 2 characters would fall in love, nor that in Book 4, someone would be a traitor and cause the loss of an i portant battle.
Vivienne, those are excellent examples. Thank you for sharing with us.
I'm an extreme plotter; I compile an extensive list of WHAT belongs in a scene from the very beginning. I call that my 'scene kit.'
But the HOW is often full of surprises, because I don't even think about it until that scene's turn next in line, when I start to figure out the details of making the scene actually do what is intended for it.
For me, it is the best of both worlds, because I have very limited functional energy and time, and I can work with just a scene's worth of the story, without worrying whether it will all fit together. It always does, and I rarely have to go back to an earlier scene to add/change anything.
Works for me! Plenty of surprises but no detours.
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Hey Rick,
Now I want to read your stories because of the twists in the plots. Especially to cyber baby story.
Every single time some character surprises me with a plot change or give me a surprise reveal I didn't see coming, it has always worked out. And readers catch these and is what they get the most excited about when they talk to me.
I have learned to trust the process and trust the characters.
My most recent surprise was with book 6 in my time-travel romance series. Had just finished book 5 where I got such a surprise ending that when I published that book, I had to keep going into book 6 and that one is already with the editor. And with book 6 I had realized in the last chapters that a minor character that had inserted himself in the story back in book 3 has finally reached his "reason for being there," and will die in this book 6.
I remember when this character came into the story I asked him "why" he was there. What was his purpose? It took time and three books to get an answer. It always works out.
Not sure HOW we do this fiction trick of ours, but yes, believe in the process and in the characters. It always works out.
A sex act became a murder.