Plot Twist Story Prompts: Someone to Save

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, Technical Error, here.

For today's prompt, have someone taken hostage. One way to really kick up the stakes in a story is to have a character (or characters) who need saved after they're taken captive. This is a super popular trope in action thriller stories.

(8 Tips for Plotting a Great Heist Novel.)

So there are a few questions to answer with this plot twist: First, who is being taken captive? Second, why are they being taken hostage? Third, who is doing it? Fourth, who is going to help them get free? And maybe fifth, why? Of course, there are other questions to answer as well.

For some kidnappers, the hostage is a means to an end. Perhaps, they want ransom money...or a favor of some sort (like freeing political prisoners or getting some expensive piece of technology). And in some cases, maybe the hostage is the end (in a story of revenge or obsession).

But don't forget: Sometimes the hostage doesn't need saving. They may find they have the right stuff to free themselves of captivity on their own. Or maybe, as bad as it sounds, the hostage doesn't make it out.

So have someone taken hostage, and see what happens next.

*****

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.