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Twist endings

matt0044

matt0044

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This element can make or break a story. If you craft the plot carefully around it, you can turn an average story into something greater with twist adding new layers to previous events (see the Anime Tiger & Bunny to see what I mean). On the other hand, if you're careless with the plot or add the twist just because, the story has been ruined.

What are your thoughts? How can twists can be well implemented? (note: when using example, use the spoiler tags).
 
I remember talking about this in a (your?) foreshadowing thread. Twist endings come across as contrived when they come from nowhere with no foreshadowing. Twist endings can be (and should be) shocking while still having some underlying hints in the story. I would say that this kind of foreshadowing is an absolute necessity if you want your readers going "WTF MIND BLOWN" rather than just "WTF"

What do I know, though. I've never written a twist ending.
 
If you ask me, an ideal ending should make a definite impact on the audience, who hopefully should not see it coming, as this increases the impact. Something in your world needs to have definitely changed through the story, and said changes need to be made clear, or mostly occur at the ending.

However, while a twist is definitely a good thing, foreshadowing of some sort is useful and important. Probably the best way you could do that is to make said foreshadowing seem irrelevant, or unrelated to the main plotline, so then a reader thinks 'oh, that's why he did that', or rather, they would think that if they weren't in shock from the twist. Foreshadowing probably should always, or usually, be disguised in some way. The worst thing that can happen is that someone will understand your foreshadowing, and predict the events of the story as a result.

At the end, revisit the start in some way. If your story develops so much that the start is no longer applicable to the story at the end, there's a problem somewhere. In fact, the start might be a good place for foreshadowing, as then the readers may not realise it is important. But probably not too much. I don't really know.

Hopefully this will give you some food for thought.
 
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