Plot Twist Story Prompts: Missing Item
Every good story needs a nice (or not so nice) turn or two to keep it interesting. This week, we look at what happens when something goes missing.
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, Animal Cameo, here.
Plot Twist Story Prompts: Missing Item
For today's prompt, have something go missing. That something could be super important (like a briefcase full of money). Or it could be seemingly, though not necessarily, innocuous (like an old flash drive or pair of shoes). And yes, the "thing" that goes missing could actually be a person.
One nice aspect of the missing item twist is that it forces characters to reveal things about themselves. Some characters will automatically assume the missing item was stolen (or kidnapped). Others will think it was misplaced (either by someone else or themselves).
Then, characters have to decide how much effort into finding the missing item. The briefcase of money and missing person may prompt an immediate reaction (and if not, that would be interesting too). Meanwhile, the seemingly innocuous thing may prompt little notice initially...until the character realizes the old flash drive has compromising information on it and/or the pair of shoes could be evidence used in solving a crime.
Of course, a character could be preoccupied with solving the missing item mystery while dealing with other plot points (aka, the "real story") only to learn that the missing item was there all along (under the couch, behind the dishwasher, or in a cabinet). In such cases, the missing item acts as a sort of red herring.
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If you want to learn how to write a story, but aren't quite ready yet to hunker down and write 10,000 words or so a week, this is the course for you. Build Your Novel Scene by Scene will offer you the impetus, the guidance, the support, and the deadline you need to finally stop talking, start writing, and, ultimately, complete that novel you always said you wanted to write.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
