Plot Twist Story Prompts: Not Challenged

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, Narrator Villain, here.

For today's prompt, let a character have a faked challenge. As an example, you might have a character who "can't walk" and has been rolling around in a wheelchair reveal they're actually able to not only walk but run. Or a "blind" character is actually able to see (and may even have X-ray or telescopic vision).

(2022 November Poem-A-Day Chapbook Challenge.)

Note: The character with the faked challenge does not suddenly realize they're able to run, see, or hear. Rather, they're actively exploiting the challenge to fool those around them, whether that's to play to sympathy or gain access to someone's confidence. However, the character knows they're faking throughout the story.

Of course, you have to be careful when writing this plot twist, because it can seem like a trick to readers if you don't leave a few clues that hint at this as a possibility. Maybe the "blind" character slips in a brief physical description earlier in the story that close readers might catch but other characters (and readers) might plausibly miss.

So let a character have a faked challenge, 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.