Plot Twist Story Prompts: Permission to Enter

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, Time Travel, here.

For today's prompt, give a character permission to enter a location. This dynamic is commonly seen in vampire stories, in which the vampire requests permission to enter a person's domicile before they can wreak havoc within said house. But giving someone permission to enter doesn't have to be limited to Transylvanian tourists.

(3 Tips for Picking the Perfect Setting for Your Novel.)

For instance, there's a certain change in the atmosphere once a character invites their new neighbor into the house. Moving forward, that neighbor may assume that one-time affair is a standing invite. They may think they have permission to enter whenever they want, at any time of day and for any purpose. Such characters could conceivably start treating that home and the objects in it as their own—creating a humorous or sinister situation for your original inviter.

Also, this is not limited to physical locales; your character may give another character permission to enter their love life or a conspiracy. And again, once a character is invited in to this new place, there's no telling how they will use their new-found powers of permission (or how they'll react if those rights are rescinded).

So give a character permission to enter a location and see where it takes your characters and story 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.