Some terms I got mixed up when I first started studying writing were the phrases plot reveal and plot twist. They both mean new information is given, and they generally shock or awe the audience. But what exactly is a reveal or a twist, and how do writers pull them off? Today, I’m going to dive into these terms and hopefully clarify them for you.
Reveals Vs. Twists
Before diving into each of these terms, let’s look briefly at how reveals and twists compare to each other. Reveals change expectations; they affect the future of the story. Twists change the understanding of the story; they affect the past and how readers look back on what has already happened. Reveals ask a question and encourage the readers to find the answer, and twists answer a question the readers didn’t think to ask.
No matter if it’s a reveal or a twist though, there are two things every writer must do to successfully pull one off. First, you have to foreshadow it. The reader, regardless if he figures it out beforehand or not, should always be able to look back over the story and see all the hints. Readers revisit the story and say, “how did I miss that?” The second thing that reveals and twists have in common is that they must affect the story and its characters. What happens after the information comes to light can’t be the same as what would happen if the reveal or twist didn’t exist. They must matter to the plot and characters.
Reveals
Reveals are when new plot information is given in a story. It’s when the writer purposefully makes the reader question something and seek out an answer. Who stole the painting? What is haunting her from her past? How did she die? The main thing to remember about reveals is that you actively make the reader ask the question. You can have the character ask it herself, have another character point out the question, or point out the mystery in the narration. Once you point the question out, you let the reader try to answer it before the reveal. Think of plot reveals like a path leading to a door. A person knows the door is there and can guess what’s behind it, but they won’t know for certain until the door is opened and what’s behind is revealed.
There are two ways you can create foreshadowing for a reveal. One is to use ambiguity to set up an active reveal. In this type of reveal, you give the readers a question and make sure they are actively looking for answers. Ambiguity will create multiple possible answers, but readers won’t know which one is right. They’ll have to guess.
The second way to create a reveal is to make it passive. You can use vagueness to hint at a mystery without giving any clear possible answers. In this method, writers lay hints that don’t add up until the last piece is set and the reveal occurs. It’s called a passive reveal because the reader won’t be able to answer the question before the reveal. This makes the reveal closer to a plot twist as the answer will be unexpected, but the reader knows to ask the question and just can’t find the answer.
Examples
Examples of reveals are everywhere. They are any mystery story where you start out with a question and answer it by the end. All Murder She Wrote episodes ask, who’s the murder? Now You See Me gets its audience asking, who is the mastermind behind the magicians’ heists? In Knives Out, who killed Harlan Thrombey? These are all examples of the writers telling the audience what to ask at the story’s beginning and then answering it by the end.
Twists
Plot twists are when new unexpected information is given in a story. Writers use misdirection to keep readers’ attention on something else so they don’t see what’s happening until it’s pointed out. Readers don’t know to question what’s happening because they weren’t lead to believe there was something amiss. Think of plot twists like a path that takes a sudden turn. A person expects the path to continue straight as there is no indication otherwise (no door or signs pointing out an upcoming change), but a sudden turn will send the person in a new direction.
However, that doesn’t mean plot twists weren’t foreshadowed so readers could have seen it coming. You can use ambiguity to hint at it, but you just don’t draw attention to all the possible interpretations. To write a plot twist, you present what’s happening without telling the reader to look closer. You don’t tell them to ask a question. If it’s done well with ambiguity, the reader will see on the surface what’s happening, but after the twist they will go back and read the story with new meaning. While the story is written so it can be interpreted in more than one way, readers don’t usually see the other option. They aren’t looking for it.
Examples
Plot twists occur when you get to the end of the story and something unexpected happens that changes your perspective. Let’s look at a few examples. Warning though, I will be spoiling the story’s plot twists so skip this section if you don’t want to know.
In Sixth Sense, a psychologist works with a young boy who claims he can see ghosts. The story makes complete sense as you watch it the first time, but then there is the plot twist. Dr. Crowe is dead. He’s just a ghost the boys sees. It changes how you see all the previous senses in the movie. Suddenly, you pick up on all the small details that foreshadowed the twist, like how no one beside the kid ever talk to Dr. Crowe.
Another movie is The Game. Nicholas is a depressed man who is given a chance to play a mysterious game for his birthday. Only the game seems to be a scam that rips him off and threatens his life. Yet at the end, the danger was all an elaborate birthday party experience. We are told up front he was getting a birthday present, and we see the tests he undergoes before it starts to check his health. It all makes sense in retrospect, but we are convinced something darker is happening instead.
One more example is The Illusionist. We start the story asking the question, who killed Sophie? In the end, we realize that no one killed her. She faked her death. It’s not a reveal because our question wasn’t answered (no one killed her); it’s a twist that gave us something unexpected. Any time the audience doesn’t has a question or asks the wrong question, it’s a plot twist.
Combining Reveals And Twists
On rare occasions, a good story can offer a reveal and twist at the same time. Usually, this occurs by subverting expectations. Everyone is asking the question and trying to find the answer, but the conclusion is nothing like anyone expects. Below are two examples that include spoilers.
Murder on the Orient Express has the audience asking, which person on the train killed the victim? At the end, the murder is revealed, but it’s also a twist. The audience expects one person (or maybe one couple) committed the crime. Yet the ending twist is that all of them did it. So there is a reveal as to who the murderer is, but it subverts people’s expectations by saying they all killed the victim.
Another example is Disney’s Frozen. Anna’s heart is slowly freezing, and she needs an act of true love to save her. But who is her true love: Hans or Kristoff? In the end, it’s revealed who’s true love saves Anna, but it’s a sister’s love—not a suitor’s love. The audience is used to hearing “true love” as synonymous for romantic love that lasts a lifetime. The writers used people’s expectations and twisted them, showing a sister’s love is also true love. The ending creates a plot reveal and twist that left the audience shocked yet happy.
Final Thoughts
Plot reveals and twists are a lot of fun to write, and readers love them. If you want to put them into your story, I’ve heard from thriller writers that you should have at least three. One at 50% mark, one around 85%, and one around 95%. They can be reveals, twists, or both! The goal is to change your reader’s perceptions of the story each time. You can obviously have more than three, but just be careful not to give your readers too much mental whiplash. If they need to change their perspective every other chapter, they will start feeling confused. Spend the first half of the book grounding them in the story, and then hit them with a few reveals and/or twists to get them excited.
Thanks for reading!
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