Plot twists: They can twist your brain. --- A post by Patricia Rane

Hey, there. It Patricia, here. And I am here to help you twist your plots! Yup. Now.... either this post will end up sounding really stupid.... or it will sound really smart. I am shooting for the second.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself, if you're trying to decide whether you should throw in a twist.

1. Is your book interesting enough?

My favorite terminology to use when writing is: borxciting.... yesh. I know it's weird. It, actually, sounds kind of like a ship name... sorry. I need to stay on track.
Anyway, borxciting is mixture of the two words 'boring' and 'exciting'. To an author, their writing will (almost) always be interesting, and/or exciting. And that's because it's their's. It's what they pour their hearts into. It's what they spend their time working on. But, the only thing about that is this. Often times, when we think our writing is interesting, we could be doing more to make it that way. (OW! PLEASE! I'M NOT FINISHED YET!) I'm not saying that your writing is not exciting... I'm saying that you should run the extra mile, and try to make it as exciting as possible.

2. Is your book missing something?

Maybe there are two characters in your book. And your writing sounds fantabulous. But it just seems like it's missing something. What about making a relationship happen? Whether it be a crush, a kiss, or a couple, it will fill in the gap.

That was just an example, guys. If you want to keep your literature relationship-free, go right ahead and do that. A relationship is just a good way to fill in gaps.

3. Does the twist that I'm thinking about fit with my plot? My storyline? My characters?

If you answered 'no' to ANY of those questions, you need to finda different twist. If you have fallen in love with the twist, that just doesn't work, try taking a different approach.


So, I've given you some questions to proof your twisting... now what about those twists?

WARNING: Once you add the twist, it will be hard to remove, so think carefully about your next step.

Here are a couple of good ways to twist your plot.

• (I mentioned this earlier) Bring a relationship into your story.
• Bring a new main character into it.
• Have an obstacle in the way of the plans of your characters.
• Change your writing style. (Ex. if you're using 1st person past tense, change it to 1st person present tense)

Have fun!

Keep writing!

~

Patricia Rane <3