What is your favorite plot twist?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 42060
  • Start date
D

Deleted member 42060

Guest
For me, betrayal is the best plot twist. I know it’s common, but there’s something amazing about a close friend betraying the protagonist like it’s so unpredictable that you can’t take it all in. It’s especially effective when the reader is attached to that traitor who’s been the protagonist’s sidekick for like twenty volumes, and that sidekick stabs him in the back for some mysterious reason. Readers will either get shocked or angry when authors do that, but it’s still the best when executed properly. Reasons why games like GTA and COD, and other stories with betrayal have some of the best twists ever.​
 

Amok

grblbrbl
Joined
Nov 4, 2020
Messages
421
Points
133
those you trust where reptiles in human flesh all along
 

Representing_Tromba

Sleep deprived mess of an author begging for feedb
Joined
Jan 29, 2020
Messages
5,987
Points
233
My favorite is when the hero is revealed to actually be the villian but because you know their motivations and morals you can't hate them.
 

Jemini

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2019
Messages
2,037
Points
153
There is simply no doubt. The best plot twists are the ones in the fashion of the 6th sense. The type where you go through the entire story missing 1 important piece of context, and then having that little bit of context revealed just changes how you view everything that has happened up until that point in the story.

Another one I have been reading recently that has these types of twists is a series called Mother of Learning. It actually pulls a few twists of this sort, and the way it's written I'm very sure these little twists were planned from the moment chapter 1 was written. There are 3 things that could be considered twists. 2 of them have to do with the nature of the time-loop they are stuck in. 1 has to do with the MC's abilities.

These twists are pulled off very well to the point that, starting a dozen or so chapters before the reveal, you are actually starting to put the pieces together and suspect it yourself. Just because you can see it coming though doesn't make it any less effective.

Point is, make it a twist that's less soap-operaish and more along the lines of something that just exists in the world and you really could see someone overlooking, but bears some kind of real relevance to the plot. Such as a person having an unknown (but subtly hinted at) power all along, or the converse of that being that they've had some kind of horrible condition that's killing them all along. Or, there is some kind of divine or primordial tier artifact and the main cast discovers something shocking about the manner in which it operates. (Let's avoid anything shock-bait in nature like it running on the souls of ritualistically abused children or something like that. Referring back to Mother of Learning, how about having it crafted from the body of a dead primordial horror with cuthuluesque properties. Equally shocking but far less contrived.)
 

Macha

{$user.user_title}
Joined
Feb 6, 2021
Messages
888
Points
133
For me, betrayal is the best plot twist. I know it’s common, but there’s something amazing about a close friend betraying the protagonist like it’s so unpredictable that you can’t take it all in. It’s especially effective when the reader is attached to that traitor who’s been the protagonist’s sidekick for like twenty volumes, and that sidekick stabs him in the back for some mysterious reason. Readers will either get shocked or angry when authors do that, but it’s still the best when executed properly. Reasons why games like GTA and COD, and other stories with betrayal have some of the best twists ever.​
My personal best:
My favorite is when the hero is revealed to actually be the villian but because you know their motivations and morals you can't hate them.
Everyone gangsta until the hero started the rumbling.
 
Last edited:
D

Deleted member 19066

Guest

Steve jobs :blob_dizzy:
 

georgelee5786

I'll never let you down when you're riding with me
Joined
Mar 6, 2022
Messages
4,023
Points
183
For me, betrayal is the best plot twist. I know it’s common, but there’s something amazing about a close friend betraying the protagonist like it’s so unpredictable that you can’t take it all in. It’s especially effective when the reader is attached to that traitor who’s been the protagonist’s sidekick for like twenty volumes, and that sidekick stabs him in the back for some mysterious reason. Readers will either get shocked or angry when authors do that, but it’s still the best when executed properly. Reasons why games like GTA and COD, and other stories with betrayal have some of the best twists ever.​
Where the MC turns out to be working for the opposing side but isn't necessarily evil.
 
Top