Twists and Surprises

Jun 25, 2010 07:59

Well, the book is coming along, and I'm anticipating finishing the first draft long before my self-imposed deadline. Yeah, it's as much a shock to me as to anyone else, trust me. But for some reason, the act of setting myself a public deadline (and opening myself up to judgment should I fail to meet it) seems to have lit an even bigger fire under ( Read more... )

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Comments 11

rabbithigh June 24 2010, 23:17:00 UTC
OMG! Twists and secrets and shockers are NOT my forte :( I mean, looking back on my old drafts, I was waaay too obvious, constantly repeating the same clues and almost shouting at the reader, "This is important! Look! Note this down ( ... )

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meaganspooner June 24 2010, 23:45:15 UTC
I so know what you mean! I feel a lot of the time like I broadcast my clues--but now I've occasionally begun overcompensating in the other direction and erring on the side of not enough hinting! It's such a fine line, and so hard to hit ( ... )

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acmaxwell June 24 2010, 23:54:58 UTC
I think the key to a good twist is to surprise the reader, and at the same time, make sure that it belongs in the story. The reader should think, "Oh my god! OF COURSE!" not roll their eyes because they can tell that the twist was just thrown in their so that the author could have a twist SOMEWHERE.

I think Diana Wynne Jones is a master of this, particularly in...well, pretty much every book she's ever written. Also, ENDER'S GAME, by Orson Scott Card (and one of my favorite books) has a very good reveal that kind of changes everything. More recently, I read THE DEMON'S LEXICON by Sarah Rees Brennan. It had a very good, creative twist (though I did kind of anticipate that one).

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meaganspooner June 24 2010, 23:59:35 UTC
Yeah, definitely! I hate it when writers just insert twists with little to no buildup or foundation, just to throw off the readers. Hello, we're not dumb, Authorface. We know what you just did.

Dude, Ender's Game! How could I have forgotten that one? I still love that book despite having first read it when I was really young. A lot of the books I loved when I was like 12 are not exactly my favorites anymore, but that one has endured. I still go "OMG!" at the end of that book even though I know it's coming. I think the secret is that it affects the characters (mostly Ender himself) so profoundly that even if you know the twist is coming, seeing it hit him is affecting every single time. I'll have to keep that in mind...

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acmaxwell June 25 2010, 01:13:11 UTC
Ender's Game is definitely one of those books I have to go back and reread every now and again. And each time is just as good as the first.

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clumsybella15 June 25 2010, 00:19:05 UTC
My mouth is like this right now O. Why? Because YOUR post made me realize something. I was planning a twist in my novel and now I see I need to add something in the first chapter to make it work. Thank you SO much for writing about twists.

To answer your question, I'll take Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead as an example.

Okay, I was trying to explain it without giving away spoilers, but it's too complicated. Let's just say one twist shocked me BIG TIME, another twist didn't (I saw it coming and was internally screaming for the MC to realize it) but a smaller detail made me go "Oh, that's why he was mentioned earlier... It was for a REASON."

Also, nothing to do with twists, but Richelle Mead pulled something off that could have been really badly handled and make me go "Seriously?"

-Kayleigh

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meaganspooner June 25 2010, 00:23:36 UTC
Oooh, yay, I'm so glad you figured that out! I will preen and take credit for it even if it was technically your realization... so there. ;)

Actually, I've had people telling me to read those books for a while now. I've been resisting because I have come to dislike modern vampire fiction (call me a snob, but I miss the good old days when vampires were SCARY) but I've heard good things. I might have to investigate!

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clumsybella15 June 25 2010, 00:28:37 UTC
Oh you HAVE to read the Vampire Academy series. In it there are 3 kinds of vamps:

-Strigoi: scary, strong, can't go out in the sun, undead, need blood

-Dhampir: can go out in the sun, very strong, protect the Moroi, eat normal food

-Moroi: weak (compared to the other two kinds), can go out in the sun but it will hurt them, need blood

VA is the best vampire series of books I've EVER read. And like I said, Richelle Mead pulled something off brilliantly. It could have gone SO wrong and it didn't. Also: hot guys such as Dimitri and Adrian. Always a plus. But seriously, that series is amazing. I stayed up until 3 in the morning reading Spirit Bound! *sigh* Gotta wait until November for the next and final one. BUT she's doing a 6-book spinoff series focusing on other characters!

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clumsybella15 June 25 2010, 00:30:25 UTC

lnbw June 25 2010, 01:35:53 UTC
The first example that comes to mind for me isn't from a book but a TV show -- the end of the first season of Veronica Mars. I never suspected who the murderer was (though I've heard that other people did), but as soon as the solution was revealed, I thought, "OF COURSE!"

I thought the ending of George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones had a pretty good twist. It wasn't so much a reveal as shock that what happened would actually happen.

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meaganspooner June 25 2010, 01:37:44 UTC
Oh man, YES. Normally I don't like film/TV examples because the pace of storytelling/release of information and storytelling techniques are so different, but that one TOTALLY works. Maybe because it's over the course of a series and so long? But yes, I asolutely LOVED that finale.

Siiigh. Yeah, one of these day you're going to get me to actually read that book all the way through. :( Maybe it will be a project to undertake while I'm here and have an uninterrupted chunk of time...

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