Abigail Fredrickson

Now, before I begin, you may be wondering.  Why this topic?  Didn’t she already address plot twists?  Well, yes.  Yes I did.  But you see, this post is about twist characters, specifically.  What’s the difference?

The difference is quite simple.  Plot twists can happen because of characters, but they can also happen to characters.  It’s a very wide spectrum that encompasses pretty much any sort of plot twist you can imagine.  Twist characters are a specific point on that spectrum.  They are the plot twist, they drive it, they’re the reason it exists.  This is not a plot twist that happens to the characters.  No, this is the kind of twist where one or more characters are the ones with their hands on the story’s wheel.

Here’s an example.  A character may get amnesia suddenly.  That’s a plot twist happening to the character, even if it causes them to pull a complete one eighty, switching sides, or developing an entirely new personality, they did not cause the twist.  A twist character, one with their hands on the wheel, might be someone like a character who has a change of heart.  Or a character who was undercover for the enemy, unbeknownst to the main character, and is suddenly revealing their hand.  Sometimes you can even combine the two, causing a twist to happen to a character, and then presenting them with a choice: continue their current path, or twist the story even more by darting off their charted course.

Life is full of twists and turns.  It’s full of unexpected events, of people who suddenly change their minds, people who choose between their friends, people who realize they’ve made a mistake and are trying to fix it.

It’s people like that that we would consider a twist character in fiction.  Whether the reader can see the twist coming or not doesn’t necessarily matter; a twist is a twist.  Sometimes they’re even more enjoyable for being predicted.  (I certainly know a great deal of my enjoyment in reading comes from trying to guess where the story is going to go next.)  So be as obvious as you want.  Drop hints that the hero-villain team up is going to end in a sudden betrayal.  Work overtime to make that one member of the group seem entirely harmless so the shock is real when they reveal a dagger.  Do whatever you wish.

The hard part, when it comes to twist characters, is not necessarily deciding whether to make the twist obvious or not.  The hard part is making it believable.  You could pull off the world’s most incredible twist!  …But it won’t mean a thing if your readers can’t look at it and understand what happened after the fact.

Why did that person decide to betray them?  Why did that terrible person have a change of heart?  Why is that wallflower only just now deciding to show their hand?

Give them a reason, and, after the twist occurs, even if it’s not immediately, be sure to show that reason.  Or you could reveal it beforehand if you’re purposefully letting your readers witness the build up to the twist.  Just make it understandable and believable.

If you don’t, it will fall flat.  Empty.  It’s going to feel like a deux ex machina.  Or the opposite of that, if it’s less of a rescue.  Unless you’ve already established meta humor as a key part of the way you tell your story, taking that approach won’t be a laugh at this ‘conveniently placed plot point’ and more of your readers simply going…‘??????’

That person chose the path of betrayal why?  Their family member is on the wrong side and they refuse to let the group harm them.  This person had a change of heart…why?  Well, a seed of doubt was planted some time back by this event, has grown over time, and something is happening now that’s pushing them over the edge.  This wallflower is entering the game why?  They hung back to observe the board and their opponents, concocting a plan and calculating the right point to come in because it would hit that much harder.

Take the time to figure that out.  It will add to the character and the plot twist both.  Never be afraid of including more detail.  (Unless you’re in the first chapter and infodumping about the worldbuilding, but that’s a different topic entirely.)  More often than not, detail and motive is a writer’s best friend.

Well, besides their pen!

And their pet.

Are any of you working on twist characters?  Is there one you’re stuck on or that you’re particularly proud of?  Please share your experiences! 🙂