Plot Twist Story Prompts: Another Competitor

Plot twist story prompts aren't meant for the beginning or the end of stories. Rather, they're for forcing big and small turns in the anticipated trajectory of a story. This is to make it more interesting for the readers and writers alike.

Each week, I'll provide a new prompt to help twist your story. Find last week's prompt, Bad Diagnosis, here.

For today's prompt, have another person, group, or entity try to achieve the same goal as your protagonist/antagonist. In a heist story, for instance, a group of thieves may try to rob a bank but are served up with a plot twist when they realize someone else is working to rob the same bank (on a faster timeline, no less).

(3 Ways to Create Tension in World-Building.)

This plot twist really increases the tension in a story, because achieving a goal on its own is usually difficult enough. Throw in some competition, and wow! I mean, there's a reason why there's such a large audience for various types of competitions, whether sports, scientific innovations, or reality shows.

Keep in mind that letting your protagonists "win" the competition can be fun for your readers, but "losing" can be interesting as well. Also, the competition can take on even more meaning when readers get to know the competitors. Are they actually likable people? Or are they genuinely awful? Often times, they're somewhere in the middle (like your protagonists).

So give your characters some competition, and see what happens next.

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Have you hit a wall on your work-in-progress? Maybe you know where you want your characters to end up, but don’t know how to get them there. Or, the story feels a little stale but you still believe in it. Adding a plot twist might be just the solution.

Click to continue.