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Rant: I thought every story needed a big twist ending until my friend called my writing predictable.
For years, I'd end every short story with a 'gotcha' moment, like the narrator being a ghost or the whole thing being a dream. My buddy read one last week and said, 'Cole, I knew the twist by paragraph two.' That hit me hard. Do you ever worry about being too obvious with your plot devices?
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felix_martin5610d ago
That "surprising but also the only possible ending" thing sounds good in theory but I've read plenty of stories where the ending was too obvious because they followed that rule too tight. Sometimes a cheap shock is better than a predictable ending that just checks boxes.
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evana712mo ago
Twists are fun but maybe the real trick is making the reader forget they're even waiting for one. Get them so wrapped up in a character's bad choice or a weird detail that the eventual turn feels like a natural part of the story's spine, not a hat you pull out at the end. It's less about hiding the ball and more about getting them to watch your hands for a different reason entirely.
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That "I knew the twist by paragraph two" line is the real gut punch. I heard a writer say the twist should feel surprising but also like the only possible ending once you see it. If it's just a random shock, it feels cheap. Your ghost or dream thing might be giving away the game too early.
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