How to Write a Great Plot Twist
(Heads up: this post contains spoilers!)
Plot twists are exhilarating and unexpected if done well. It can escalate stakes and reveal brand new information the audience never expected. Twists can also keep your audience fully engaged, and it can make your story super memorable long after it’s over. Remember in The Good Place when (spoiler) Eleanor realizes she’s actually in the Bad Place? Wow!
But in order for plot twists to work, it must be well-crafted and earned. It can't just be inserted for the sake of being surprising or shocking. So next time you want to try using a plot twist in your script, here are some tips:
IT MUST HAVE A GOOD SET-UP
When things have been set up throughout the story, the plot twist feels earned.
In Poor Things, (spoiler) we learn that Bella Baxter is the pregnant woman who jumped off the bridge. She’s not just an eccentric woman learning about the world, but her brain was actually surgically replaced with that of her fetus by Dr. Godwin Baxter. It’s shocking, but it actually makes sense and the reveal is effective, because it’s been set up. How? The first scene is her jumping off the bridge. And throughout the movie we see evidence of Godwin’s surgical experiments on himself, animals, and more. Bella talks like a baby, but she’s clearly physically an adult. There are hints everywhere consistent with the reveal.
DOES IT INCREASE STAKES?
The Red Wedding episode of Game of Thrones was not just shocking because of the sheer brutality of the massacre, but more so because it raised the stakes by providing new information about the world. The sudden, unexpected betrayal completely wiped out major protagonists and other significant supporting characters like Robb Stark, his mother Catelyn Stark, and his pregnant wife Talisa Stark. The audience learned something new and totally shocking about the world of the show: that no one is safe. Anyone could die.
DON’T BE PREDICTABLE
Gone Girl starts as a pretty standard “whodunit” mystery about the disappearance and possible murder of Amy. Her husband, Nick, is considered a prime suspect, and the movie wants you to believe that. Everything points to him being the culprit -- he’s cheating, he smiles at the wrong moment, and so on. So that conclusion feels natural and obvious. Then, there’s a mid-story reveal: Amy is alive and she meticulously orchestrated her own disappearance. She wanted to frame her husband. It’s totally surprising and jarring because it reframes the entire narrative, turning the story into a psychological thriller, where the victim (or so we thought) is no longer the victim.
Want to experiment with plot twists? What method is right for your script?
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