The MAGIC of Plot Twists

plot writing craft

I'm in the middle of writing a story and I need to come up with a mind-blowing plot twist. How do I do it? Here are the 5 MAGIC Rules of Plot Twists:

Misdirect - red herrings, dead ends, misguided attention, stalking horse
Astonish - a memorable "wow" factor that makes the story sizzle
Gimmick - fool the reader, then show them how the trick was done
Imply - hint, foreshadow (while misdirecting)
Convince - make sure the twist is believable

Let's look closer at the 5 MAGIC Rules of Plot Twists as well as the 4 Types of MAGIC Plot Twists, then apply those principles in 7 Steps to Develop a Great Plot Twist.

This article is SPOILER-FREE, so don't worry, you can rest assured that we did NOT include examples that would ruin your favorite book or movie by revealing their plot twists. At the end of the article there is a series of links to examples of plot twists where there are spoilers, so beware before you click on any of those links (in the "Resources" section of the article).

Before we start ...
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The 5 MAGIC Rules of Plot Twists

First, we'll take a deeper dive into the five MAGIC rules of plot twists.

MISDIRECT

A magician will misdirect you by making gestures with the right hand when the magic trick is actually performed with the (hidden) left hand.

It's the same thing in writing a plot twist in that we need to make the reader look "over there" when the twist is actually sneaking up on the reader "right here."

We do this by writing red herrings, taking the reader down dead ends, and through misguided attention where we bury seemingly unimportant clues in the middle of shiny attention-grabbing trifles.

We can also use a "stalking horse" strategy where we draw attention to some element of the story, as cover for the real plot twist.

stalking horse (n)
- a horse, or a figure of a horse, used as cover by a hunter stalking game
- anything used to disguise or conceal intentions, schemes, or activities; blind

– Collins English Dictionary

For example, we can subtly signal a plot twist that (some of) the readers can see coming a mile away, but we have sneakily disguised the real twist inside this "stalking horse" twist. (A twist hidden inside a twist, is that a Trojan Stalking Horse?)

ASTONISH

It's not enough that there is a twist. It needs to be a memorable twist, something that lets the reader rear back in shock and awe, going:

"Whoa, I didn't see that coming! That blows my mind!"

We want an extraordinary, memorable, water-cooler moment type of plot twist.

GIMMICK

gimmick (n)
- anything that tricks or mystifies; deceptive or secret device
- any clever little gadget or ruse
- a concealed, usually devious aspect or feature of something, as a plan or deal
- a hidden mechanical device by which a magician works a trick or a gambler controls a game of chance

gimmick (v)
to use gimmicks in or add gimmicks to

– Collins English Dictionary

Yes, as readers, we do like to be tricked.

Then we want to see — in retrospect — how the trick was done. We want to feel that now that we see how it was done, it was easy and obvious ... but we still fell for it. That's what makes us admire a skilled magician, and a skilled writer.

Magicians have their bag of tricks, and there are really only a limited number of magic tricks or "gimmicks" that each magician puts their own spin on.

As a writer, you should have your bag of plot-twist tricks. Here are some of the standard plot-twist "gimmicks":

Unreliable Narrator
Unexpected Relationship between characters
Subplots that appear unimportant but are actually important, and vice versa
Characters that appear unimportant but are actually important, and vice versa
Characters that you expect to be very important are killed or in other ways taken out of the story
Characters revealed to be someone else than you think they are (ex. love interest is actually the killer)
Chronology - playing with time so the reader thinks something happens at "time x" but it really happens at "time y" and/or the events happen in a different order than you think
Betrayals
Secrets (kept or revealed)
Poetic Justice - for example a killer is killed by his own device

IMPLY

It's important that there are some form of hints, subtle foreshadowing, so that in retrospect the reader can have that feeling of "Oh, now I see!" The reader needs to feel afterwards that it was fair game, that they can go back and reconstruct and see how the trick was done and where the clues were given.

Imply is actually very interrelated with "Misdirect" because you need to bury those clues, either alongside red herrings or through diverting their attention with something that appears (and may actually be) important but acts as a smoke screen for the clues.

CONVINCE

The plot twist must be believable.

It can't be something that the characters wouldn't do. If the action required for the twist to come off would go completely against a character's nature and motivation, you either have a bad plot twist ... or some challenging character development to do (for example by creating hidden motivations for the character).

In terms of the story, it can't just feel like it's a coincidence or a deus ex machina. It has to be consistent with the story. If it feels like a coincidence, that's likely because you haven't followed the "Imply" rule to plant clues, so go back and do that!

Finally, consider the genre. If the plot twist disappoints the reader in terms of genre-expectations, it's likely not a convincing twist for the reader. For example, if you're writing a mystery that was all about a murder, but the "twist" is that it was just an accident, that is a twist, but not a very satisfying one, and not convincing in a murder mystery (it will seem like a cop-out, not like a clever twist).

The 4 Types of MAGIC Plot Twists

In real magic, there are a limited number of categories of magic tricks. We're going to focus in on four of these and see how they're related to plot twists. Those four types of MAGIC Plot Twists are Produce/Vanish, Restore, Transform, and Escape/Transport.

PRODUCE/VANISH

The magician makes something appear out of thin air, for example pulling a rabbit out of a hat or a coin from behind your ear. This magic trick is called "Produce". The inverse is when a magician makes something disappear, such as the rabbit put into the hat which then is collapsed and — poof —the rabbit's gone, or the magician throws a ball up in the air and it disappears in a puff of white smoke. This magic trick is called "Vanish".

Let's compare this to plot twists.

An example of "Produce" would be having a new character appear that upsets the story.

An example of "Vanish" would be where a key character is unexpectedly killed (i.e. vanishes from the story).

These are character examples, but the same is true for story elements, where you either bring in a story element that the readers doesn't expect ("Produce") or go in a different direction than what is expected so that a story element the reader expects is actually not there ("Vanish").

RESTORE

In a real magic trick this would be where the magician appears to destroy an object and then restores it. For example, cutting the magician's assistant in half and then they're made whole again, or ripping a piece of paper into tiny confetti pieces and then crumpling that confetti up in their hand and — presto — here is the whole piece of paper again.

In a story, the character we thought was dead is restored to life, the fortunes we thought were lost are reclaimed.

TRANSFORM

The magician alters something about an object. For example, a bouquet of flowers becomes a dove, or those same flowers change color from white to red.

This is a very rich vein for plot twists. Here are some examples:

Narrator transformation - this is a form of transformation because the narrator you've been trusting to tell things as they are, transforms at some point in the story and because of this transformation of the narrator, the whole story is transformed and you have to reassess what it has really been about all along
Character role transformation - the villain is the hero (or the bad guy does an unexpected good deed), a minor character is actually very important, an apparently major character is just a "stalking horse" for the truly important characters, the character whose role appears to be the "skeptic" (or "sidekick") becomes the love interest
Character relationship transformation - the love interest is revealed to be a villain or some other relationship that upends the story
Character trait transformation - the weakling character suddenly stands up and acts heroic, their weakness is transformed to a strength
Object transformation - an object that seemed unimportant is revealed to be of vital importance (and it has secretly been important all along)
Situation transformation - an apparently catastrophic situation is transformed into a saving grace
Space (location) transformation - where you are is not where you think you are
Story element transformation - the reader expects a certain story element to go in a certain direction, but it goes a totally different way, subverting expectations
Time transformation - what you thought was the past is the future or vice versa, or the events didn't happen in the order you expected

ESCAPE/TRANSPORT

The magician breaks free from some restraint, such as handcuffs, a straight jacket, a death trap water tank. This is an "Escape" act. The magician makes an object vanish and reappear in a different place. This is a "Transport" trick. Another flavor is where two (or more) objects are transported at the same time, switching places (known as "double transportation" or "transposition.") In a sense, the "Escape" is often a form of "Transport" where the magician makes themselves into the object that is transported (which of course is a great example of applying the "Astonish" rule.)

Having a character escape a predicament can be a good plot twist. Of course that may require that you first think up a good predicament they can esape from. It might also give you a nice double-twist, if you let the character escape from one situation only to find themselves in a worse situation.

An example of "Transport" is where a character that we expect to be absent, off somewhere far away, suddenly appears on the scene to save the day (or cause trouble). Now, of course, we have to explain how that happened, and ideally we should have planted clues (remember the "Imply" rule) that this was coming, while hiding those clues through "Misdirection."

Identity swap can be viewed as a form of transport since one character is "transported" into a different place and role, such as the example of the Prince and the Pauper trading places. In any situation where characters trade places and you reveal that the person in front of you is really a different person, that is a form of transport.

NOTE:
In real magic there are other types of magic tricks, including "Levitate", "Penetrate", and "Predict", but these are not so naturally applicable to the story craft.

I want to give full credit that the information on these magic tricks came from the Penn and Teller course in magic on MasterClass.

Next, we're going to take a look at a step-by-step process, using both the 5 MAGIC Rules of Plot Twists and the 4 Types of MAGIC Plot Twists in developing your own great plot twists.

7 Steps to Develop a Great Plot Twist

These are the seven steps to develop a great plot twist, in summary:

Be the Reader
Be the Characters
Ask: What's the Opposite?
Be Creatively Cruel: Nothing and No-One is Safe
Build Your Twist-List — Until You Surprise Yourself
Check: Is the Twist MAGIC?
Work Backwards

Let's take a deeper dive into each of those steps.

1. BE THE READER

Ask yourself: As the reader, what would I expect in the situation?

Now, surprise them. Go in a different direction.

But there is a caution here. Don't be too clever with the plot twist so that it destroys the meaning of the story to the reader.

So, also ask yourself: As the reader, what do I want to see happen? You don't want to disappoint the reader, unless it's on purpose and there's an even better payoff — i.e. another plot twist, a twist on the twist — at the end, so as to fulfill what the reader truly wants from this story.

Be careful that your plot twist doesn't make the reader feel "Why did I read this story? That twist made the story meaningless to me."

For example, let's say your story is in the romance genre, so the reader is a romance reader. That means, the reader wants to see the two main characters get together, especially if the reader is deeply invested in their romance. In this case, having a plot twist at the end where one of them is killed, can be very difficult to pull off. I know there are some wonderful examples of exactly this, and when it's done right it's great. But in general, leaving your readers with a let-down of any kind is not good.

2. BE THE CHARACTERS

Your characters are real people — story-people.

You should align the twist with the character's personality and motives, their already established character arc, or have the twist be a deliberate disruption that triggers an unexpected but satisfying character transformation.

Think about putting the characters into unexpected situations. How would they react?

Could one or more of the characters act in an unexpected way? Great! But now you have to figure out why they would act like that, which may require some more character work and may even upend your own view of the character, so that you will need to (at least in part) rewrite that character in order to pull off the plot twist.

3. ASK: WHAT'S THE OPPOSITE?

All along as you're being the reader and being the character and looking at your story, ask yourself: what's the opposite?

What is the opposite of what the reader expects, what the characters would do, and also what typically happens in a story like this, or at this point in the story?

Often you will find that "the opposite" goes too far because it is wildly out of whack with the story (and the genre), the characters, and the reader's expectations. That's OK, tweak that idea to make it more plausible, more satisfying to the reader. But start with "the opposite" extreme and work from there.

4. BE CREATIVELY CRUEL: NOTHING AND NO-ONE IS SAFE

Think about a character in your story that you love (and your readers will love).

What would happen if you killed off that character?

What would that do to the story?

A little less extreme: What happens if you knock your feet out from under your characters (and the readers) by some catastrophic event, major betrayal, or reveal of a dark secret?

Go ahead, be cruel ... in the service of creativity.

As an added benefit, once the reader feels that nothing and no-one is safe, this adds tension to the whole story.

5. BUILD YOUR TWIST-LIST — UNTIL YOU SURPRISE YOURSELF

With those things in mind — being the reader, being the characters, asking what's the opposite, being creatively cruel — look back at the 4 Types of MAGIC Plot Twists, as well as the list of Gimmicks from the 5 Rules of MAGIC Plot Twists, and create a list of twists.

Let's call it your "Twist-List".

Keep adding to the Twist-List. It's a brainstorming exercise. Give yourself the challenge to list 10, 20, 50, even 100 ideas on your Twist-List.

Keep going until at least one of those twists is something that makes even you, the writer, say:

Whoa, I didn't see that coming!

Surprise yourself!

The reason for making a long list is that you have to keep going until all the obvious ones are listed. It's nearly inevitable that the initial 10 (or so) ideas will be something you've seen before —because you've read a lot (and seen a lot of movies and TV).

But by continuing to list ideas, you will move past the obvious and that's how you get to those few that will truly surprise you — and your readers.

Now take that list and highlight your top 3 or 5 or 7 ideas (no more than 7) and go on to the next step.

6. CHECK: IS THE TWIST MAGIC?

As you review your top ideas, think back to the 5 Rules of MAGIC Plot Twists.

Start with "A" (Astonish) and "C" (Convince). Does it astonish and is it convincing?

Next, think about "G" (Gimmick). Remember that, as readers, we like to be tricked, and to have the trick (the "gimmick") revealed to us. Does the twist involve some clever trick that will be fun and memorable for the reader to reflect on in retrospect?

And finally, can you see how you will be able to "M" (Misdirect) and "I" (Imply), hinting, leaving clues, while hiding those clues with red herrings, misguided attention, and stalking horses?

Are your top twists MAGIC?

Fantastic!

Now pick the ONE plot twist that speaks to you the most, and go on to the final step.

7. WORK BACKWARDS

So now that you have the plot twist, what needs to happen in order to make it work in your story?

You may even want to write the "reveal" of the plot twist first, so you have clearly in mind all the pieces that have to come together for a satisfying reveal.

Now, how can you go backwards and set it up properly? Since you're working backwards from the "reveal", let's also reverse the MAGIC rules and work backwards from "C" to "M".

What character and story changes have to occur, if any, to make the plot twist believable ("Convince")?
What clues need to be planted, so that the reader will feel, in retrospect that they should have seen the twist coming ("Imply")?
Are the mechanics of the plot twist (the "Gimmick") too involved, too much of a Rube Goldberg device? If so, how can it be simplified? You may need to go back to the character and story again to see if there are tweaks, such as removing or combining characters or plot elements.
Is the plot twist truly a shock and awe moment ("Astonish")? If not, is there anything you can change in characters or plot elements that will make the reveal even more astonishing?
Since by now the plot twist is convincing, and you have implied it through carefully crafted clues, you run the risk that is has become too obvious, too easy to spot. Do you need to add some smoke screens to cover it up more? Add red herrings, misguided attention, and stalking horses as needed ("Misdirect").

Final Thoughts

Give the twist meaning - Let's say you kill off a main character. That's shocking. But was it done just for the shock effect? How much better if you work it deep into the story, for example having this death sets off a whole chain of events that enriches the story and imbues it with deeper meaning?
Don't let the twist make the story meaningless - If your twist is "it was all a dream", does that make the reader feel that they wasted their time reading the story?
Avoid overdone tropes - Speaking of "it was all a dream", is your "surprise twist" something that has been done before, so much that it has become a trope? You may need to go back to the drawing board (aka your "Twist-List") and pick another idea. Or you can take on the challenge and see if you can tweak the idea so it transcends the overdone trope and becomes something truly original.
Don't be too elaborate - If the twist feels like a Rube Goldberg device, you need to rethink it. This is especially true if you find that in order to make the twist come off, you had to sacrifice character motivation or introduce one or more "coincidences", which will violate the "Convince" rule. It could also be that you have all the character and story elements worked out, and the reveal is convincing, but ... it's just too difficult to follow, so that the reader is likely going to be confused by the twist rather than astonished. How can you simplify it?
Don't overdo - Avoid plot twists that are too wild and crazy, especially considering the story's genre. What would work well in a Sci-Fi or Fantasy novel, may feel completely wrong in a contemporary romance. Don't have too many plot twists. And don't get too clever. Twists within twists with a twist on each twisty twist can be fun, but "be the reader" and know when enough is enough.
Then what? - If the reveal of the plot twist is at the very end of the story, that's great, you're done. But if the plot twist is at the midpoint, how do you maintain momentum? One answer may be to go back to point #1 "Give the twist meaning". Once you figure out the consequences of the plot twist, you'll see all sorts of meaning that can be explored to launch the characters into new situations, carrying the story forward on the wings of your plot twist.

Resources

This article was spoiler-free, so as not to ruin your favorite book or movie by revealing their plot twists.

HOWEVER, the articles listed below do include MAJOR SPOILERS, so click at your own risk.

Your great plot twist is only one aspect of your story. Here are some articles that will be helpful as you write:

MY FAVORITE ALL-PURPOSE RESOURCE

The Writer's Treasure Chest - everything in one place, curated, organized

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Do you want to write fiction faster, while practicing your craft and your writing process to consistently get better? Check out this link to the "Write Fiction Faster ... and better" guide and workbook, which comes with a companion course with 23 bite-sized video lessons and 4 worksheets.

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