Plot Twist Story Prompts: Family Connection

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, See Unseen, here.

For today's prompt, reveal a family connection between characters. This revelation could be news to the characters themselves, but it could also be something the related characters are hiding from everyone else...until they reveal it, of course.

(10 Tips for Writing a Family Drama Novel.)

Maybe one of the most popular family connection reveals ever was at the end of The Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader reveals to Luke Skywalker that he didn't kill Luke's father; he actually was Luke's father. And then, he learned about his sister in the next movie.

In the Star Wars universe, the reveal was a shock to Luke. But it's possible that two characters (say a brother and sister) act as if they're not related as well. Their reason for doing this? Maybe to pull off a con. Or maybe to protect one from suspicion. Or well, any number of reasons.

Either way, the family reveal is a compelling one, because family is often one of the strongest bonds for a person (even if they're not happy with their family). So revealing a family connection can have huge ramifications for your story in one direction or another.

So reveal a family connection between characters, 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.