How to write effective plot twists

Top tips for writing realistic and convincing plot twists in your novel.

Hello writers!

There are few things more thrilling in storytelling than a realistic and convincing plot twist. In most genres, you’re going to want to include a twist of some sort that leaves a reader feeling surprised or shocked - maybe even an emotion such as devastated, depending on what your twist entails!

But pulling off a convincing plot twist is easier said than done. As is making it an actual surprise. After all, I find there is little more frustrating than watching a TV show with someone and they guess every single plot twist along the way. My partner can do this impeccably, and nothing winds me up more… Mainly because I never see them coming!

You can’t surprise everyone, of course, but today I’m sharing my best advice for writing a plausible and effective plot twist.

Be your own reader

The quickest way to work out if the plot twist you are planning is actually going to surprise anyone is to think like a reader. Put yourself in their shoes, and think about whether your plot thread feels obvious or not. If you are writing a murder mystery, you want to be careful to avoid the murderer just being who the evidence pointed to all along. In a fantasy novel, a betrayal is unlikely to hit hard if it’s from an obviously creepy or untrustworthy character.

You want to focus on the unpredictable elements and if you want to hint towards a certain plot twist happening, the hints should be small so that only a small number of people will pick up on them. Perhaps a reader doesn’t pick up on them at all until they read the novel back, and then it becomes obvious. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart does a great job of the latter, if you want an example of a great plot twist that was hidden in plain sight.

Lead them the wrong way

If you’ve ever read an Agatha Christie murder mystery novel, you’ll know that the evidence generally points to a particular person before it is revealed to be somebody else. How boring would Poirot books be if he just came to the same, generic conclusion as everyone else and was still correct? A murder mystery plot twist is slightly different because readers expect to be surprised in some way, but that doesn’t mean you can’t lead someone in the wrong direction for a different genre.