Plot Twist Story Prompts: Placing Blame

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, Prank Pulled, here.

For today's prompt, make a character place blame on someone. It could be for something as simple as eating the last piece of cake or as serious as the cause of another person's death or disability. Once a person assigns blame, you have the beginnings of a more dramatic story.

(10 Tips for Writing a Family Drama.)

The blame could be very public. For instance, a person could give a speech at a big dinner and call out so-and-so breaking up a marriage. Or your character could internalize the blame without ever calling the person out, but still believing that other person is to blame for a certain outcome or situation.

Of course, the assigned blame can turn out to be completely false. There are several characters who have been blamed for misdeeds or bad behavior who ended up in the end to be the polar opposite of their image. Also, the person placing blame could very well be the guilty party, because that kind of thing does happen too.

Maybe the character deserves the blame, but then again, maybe they don't. The fun part of storytelling is figuring out the what, how, and why.

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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.