Plot Twist Story Prompts: Prophecy Made

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, Opposite Day, here.

For today's prompt, introduce a prophecy to your story. The prophecy could be made by a character in real time, or it could be a prophecy that somebody finds in a book, glass bottle, or whatever. The point is that there is a prophecy made about the future.

(7 Tips for Writing a Near-Future Dystopian Novel.)

The funny thing about prophecies in fiction is that they do tend to influence the actions and reactions of characters, whether they say they care or not. If a character hears someone is going to die in the near future, then they are likely to wonder if it is them, their friend, or somebody else. If the prophecy is that something will happen specifically to "them," then it can really play games, especially if they want to avoid the prophecy coming true.

And here's the thing about making a prophecy: It doesn't have to actually come true. Or it can come true, but not in the way your characters thought it would happen, because prophecies are often tricky things that are open to interpretation.

For instance, a character is told that she will die before the month is over. She worries about how her life is about to be over. Maybe she does flatline at some point, but then, she comes back to life. Or maybe she never dies, but the world thinks she's dead because she goes missing for a period of time. So it may come to pass, but not in the way anyone expects.

So share a prophecy and see how it impacts your characters and story.

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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.

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