Plot Twist Story Prompts: Celebration

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, Evil Mentor, here.

For today's prompt, put on a celebration. Big celebrations are a cause for excitement, stress, and plot twists. One of my favorite Edgar Allan Poe stories is "The Cask of Amontillado," which happens during a celebration. In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the two young lovers meet each other at a celebration.

(Creating an Author Success Map.)

In the two examples mentioned above, of course, things don't end happily ever after (or maybe they do for Poe's narrator), but celebrations are fun, because they bring a lot of people together with a variety of motivations and intentions. Many show up for the fun, but others may be looking for love, anonymity, or revenge.

Of course, there are varying degrees of celebrations. A small group of people could celebrate at someone's house (not a bad set up for a murder mystery). Or an entire city could be filled with parades and parties in the street; in other words, the celebration could be expansive chaos.

So put on a celebration, 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.