Every good story needs a nice (or not so nice) turn or two to keep it interesting. This week, have a character find an unexpected clue.
Plot twist story prompts aren't meant for the beginning or the end of stories. Rather, they're for forcing big and small turns in the anticipated trajectory of a story. This is to make it more interesting for the readers and writers alike.
Each week, I'll provide a new prompt to help twist your story. Find last week's prompt, No Consensus, here.
Plot Twist Story Prompts: Unexpected Clue
For today's prompt, have a character find an unexpected clue. So what do I mean by unexpected clue? I mean a clue for which the character was never even searching, because they didn't realize there was a mystery to solve in the first place (at least, not as far as this clue was concerned).
(Green Herring: How to Camouflage a Villain in a Mystery Novel.)
In a romance, this clue might show (or imply) that a character is cheating on their significant other. In an adventure, the clue may show that a character has nefarious intentions. In a mystery, the unexpected clue may be the one that finally solves the unsolvable case.
However, keep in mind that even the most thought-provoking clues may be misleading. The clue that showed an unfaithful partner may have really hid that they were spending time helping a sibling. The clue in the adventure may have revealed a checkered past from which they've reformed. And in the mystery, it was yet one more red herring in a story full of them.
So have a character find an unexpected clue, and see what happens next.
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Have you hit a wall on your work-in-progress? Maybe you know where you want your characters to end up, but don’t know how to get them there. Or, the story feels a little stale but you still believe in it. Adding a plot twist might be just the solution.
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