: Re: How to know if your own story is surprising? After much world building I begin to feel the need to write short stories set in my world. In other people's fantasy novels I particularly enjoy

@Sue2132873

Vote Up Vote Down

How to test if a twist is surprising
There are three techniques that I use to test if the twist was surprising.
1. Order of inspiration
If the idea was one of the first things I thought of then, no it is probably not surprising but obvious. At least obvious to me.
The exception to this is when I find myself grinning like a loon and thinking "damn, that is clever". Of course, I might be deluding myself but gut reactions count for something.
2. Character test
Again this is just me, but when I imagine my characters (who tend to be fairly genre savvy) do I sense any surprise? If the antagonist or the protagonist would say something sarcastic about seeing it coming then, no.
However, if I can reasonably see all the characters being caught completely off guard...
3. Use a writers' group
I chair a charity that runs a writers' group. If I want to know how well my twist works I give it to some members. The back sheet will have 4 or 5 questions and one of those questions will be "did you see the twist coming and how surprised were you?"
4. (Bonus) Count the number of techniques (below) that you have used
There are a number of tried and tested methods for making a twist surprising. The more of them that have been used, the more likely your twist is to be surprising. If your story is full of twists and even half of them are somewhat surprising, then the whole story should be fairly surprising.
How to make a twist surprising
Even an obvious twist or plot development can be made to be surprising. It is all in the setup. After all, something is surprising when it is not what we were expecting.
1. Red Herrings
Feed your reader some red herrings. That is some clues that point in the wrong direction or turn out to be unimportant.
Red herrings are a vital part of a good mystery. The reader will enjoy trying to figure out which clues are really important.
2. Misdirection
Similar to the red herring technique a good story teller can make the most obvious ending by drawing the readers attention away from the magic just like a stage magician would. Red herrings are part of this approach. A big part.
Other methods include drawing attention to something only to have it pay off later, sooner, or not at all. (Be very careful with that last one).
3. Speed it past them
While the reader is caught up in the action, for example, a chase scene, this is the perfect opportunity to slip in a vital detail in an off-hand way. Casually mention it when the action is most frantic and then turn it up to eleven. Most readers will fail to realise the importance of the detail (if you did a good job).
4. Subvert expectations
One way to bring the surprise factor is to set up a common story trope (say a princess with a magical problem) and then as the expected conclusion approaches take things in a totally different direction. The princess refuses to marry the hero, the hero gets eaten by the dragon, the frog is happy to remain a frog... You get the idea.
5. The partial information method (use with care)
Sometimes we assume too much based on the information we have at hand. Use this. You can give the reader clues based not only on what you say but on what you clearly do not say.
Take, for example, a scene where a lady is walking down the aisle and thinking about her boyfriend and the day he proposed. Then the director yells cut. You never said this was the wedding but you kinda, sorta, implied it.
As I said, use with care because this can come off as cheap.
6. Same action, different result
This is the format of many jokes. An Englishman, An Irishman, and a Scotsman go into a bar...
The characters do something and there is a result. The characters (or some characters) do it again with the same result. Then they or another do the thing for the third time only now...
This trope is exactly why I love road runner cartoons. You know that no matter how many times Wile E. Coyote tests that trap, the Road Runner will not trigger it. No matter how often the Road Runner does something it will go badly the first time Wile E. Coyote tries it.
What not to do
Never pull out a fact that the reader and the characters had no way of knowing to pull off your surprise. While this will be surprising, the reader will feel cheated.

(0)

Login to post a comment!