Huge Plot Points

[The Dark One]

I love books with massive plot points/twists which suddenly make you see the whole story in a different light and/or send the story careering off in a whole new direction. One of my favourite examples is from 1984, where Winston has been having paranoid thoughts about Julia (a complete stranger whom he suspects is a member of the Thought Police and about to denounce him). He fantasises about killing her, but then as they pass in the corridor, she slips him a note that says: "I love you."

And everything changes.

It is such a powerful piece of writing on so many levels and Orwell must have been absolutely blown away when he came up with it.

I really do try to end every scene with something unexpected on some level. I also tend to write in parts (broken up into chapters). Every chapter needs to end on a question and/or a surprise and a part must end on a major surprise.

What are your favourite plot kickers and have you come up with any doozies yourself?

 

[Caged Maiden]

Sometimes I think plot twist is all I write. I joke that my plots are twistier than soft-serve cones... but that's because I can't think of anything twistier and double-helix has a sort of nerdy ring to it.

I wrote a man and woman who fall in love (after being enemies) and they realize they have so much in common, including that they are both werewolves. Later they find out they are in fact related. Not closely enough that it's a real problem, but you know... it's disconcerting.

I wrote about a woman who falls in love with a mercenary who later must reveal his true identity as the long-dead prince of a fallen kingdom. Haha and later in that same book, a close friend of hers reveals he is in love with her and forgives her for breaking their engagement, except that SHE never knew they were engaged. Her grandfather had lied to her.

I'm not sure they're doozies, but they keep me smiling, and I too try to keep the reader wondering when I write. I'm not sure any of my plots will knock someone's socks off, but I like to keep people on their toes.

 

[ScipioSmith]

In before anyone else: the death of Ned Stark. I'd also say the end of Heirs of the Blade, with the chilling scene of Tisamon's shade being summoned to serve evil- voluntarily. Completely through me.

Personally, I hope the moment when the mentor admits he was a traitor to his country and the villain's right hand man will be a shock, although I think its topped by the fact that the Empire is keeping the Devil-equivalent locked in their cellar (because you can't let him go free, after all).

 

[Ireth]

I have one like that in my vampire novel. The hero, villain and hero's best friend are fighting, and the friend puts himself between the villain and the hero. When the villain asks why, the friend says of the hero, "I love him." It completely altered my view of their relationship, especially since the hero and the friend are both men. I'm working on taking a closer look at their relationship in the second draft of the book; we'll see how it turns out this time around.

 

[The Dark One]

Like it Ireth. Now what if the villain said: "I love him too."

It would just get silly of course, but handled right, what you've done could be really powerful and (obviously) change the direction of the novel. Mind you, there are all sorts of love.

In my recently published novel, the hero becomes involved with a person (Ari) who is so androgynous that he can't tell the gender. The next thing he realises is that he's fallen in love with Ari and has to confront the fact that he's in love with a person who may turn out to be a man. The gender is not revealed until the consummation of their relationship.

I guess the above is not so much a plot kicker in the sense of this thread, but it is unexpected and I sure had a lot of fun with it as the story developed. (A major subtheme of the story is the conflict between men and women.)

 

[Caged Maiden]

HA that sounds very fun to write indeed.

I have a young man who is kidnapped from his home by a powerful man and told to join the military. He does and befriends an older soldier who he really respects. When rumors fly about the older man's sexual orientation, the young MC gets stand-offish and sort of mean, until his friend reveals that he knows what people say about him but doesn't care. His whole life he's been in love with a married woman (who he once asked to marry him) and he's even fathered one of her children.

The build-up and the touching scene where he reveals why he isn't married were really fun to write, and it reminded me about how in life sometimes we think we know our friends, but we really don't. After that, the two are closer than ever and in the future, during a brutal attack on the town, the older guy's brother is killed and the MC helps him bury his body and comforts him through his grief. I think as far as platonic relationships I've written this one is one of my favorites.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I really like that Ani.

It's a story that ,although specific with a misunderstanding & a certain relationship, resonates with a general concept all can relate to.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I try to keep my plots and twists as true to life as I can. While some of you are mind-blowingly awesome at creating worlds and races and magic concepts far beyond me, my thing is the interactions between characters I set up a lot of drama and love and hate and personal growth. So yeah, I hope people can relate. Some of the relationships are easier to understand than others, and I tend to write seriously flawed characters or people who are more than they seem, you know, with layers of depth.

 

[The Dark One]

Another amazing plot kicker was in The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien - although I won't spell it out in case there are people who haven't read it. In fact I (kinda) pinched the idea for my recently published speculative fiction book, but added my own spin to make it different enough for my professional pride.

TTP has a plot kicker that absolutely smacks you between the eyes.

Also on the subject of plot kickers and twists, I was always really irritated by the way the writer/director hid the truth from the viewer in The Sixth Sense. With all the other ghosts you could see their death injury straight away, but you don't see Bruce Willis's until all is revealed at the end. It's supposed to be a huge twist but of course it is when they hide the most important fact from the viewer!