Plot Twist Story Prompts: Cursed

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, What If Scenario, here.

For today's prompt, put a curse on one (or more) of your characters. The fun thing about a curse is that it automatically creates a lot of story and debate. First off, characters have to decide if the curse is even real. Then, if they decide it is, what do (or can) they do to break the curse?

(10 Tips for Writing a Family Drama Novel.)

But let's back up a minute: Determine who is placing the curse on who...and why. Perhaps, Person A cut in line at the DMV after Person B had been waiting for nearly an hour. As a result, Person B places a curse on Person A that leads to them getting a different traffic ticket every day until they figure out how to break the curse.

Or karma itself could be placing the curse. In the movie Groundhog Day, the protagonist is a meteorologist with a bad attitude who gets stuck in a time loop where he repeats the same day (Groundhog Day) over and over again. While it's never fully explained, I feel that in this case karma placed a curse on the character until he could figure out how to truly be a good person.

Curses can be placed by witches, wizards, and other magical creatures, for sure. But curses can also be placed by jilted lovers, disappointed parents, and mortal enemies. They may have grave consequences or add a bit of humor to your story. Plus, the validity of curses (are they real?) is often debatable, regardless of what the characters believe. And this dynamic makes them entertaining.

So place a curse on your character(s) 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.