GREAT post, Erin! Learning how to work *with* readers is such a valuable skill for authors and you've done a great job demonstrating how to accomplish that!
Studying/predicting twists is one of my favourite things when watching movies, and I went into watching The Wait knowing to expect some kind of twist, so I had a guess as to what it was after that phone call. But I can share a tip that I've observed in multiple stories that seems to help me guess as a viewer, and craft a compelling mystery as a writer.
I don't know when I first learned this, but this seems to genuinely be true most of the time: there is nothing on the page/screen by accident. If you notice something or hear something, whether it seems out of place or not, it is VERY likely that it's there now to help reveal something later. (And, often, these clues serve dual purposes, so they appear to be achieving one "innocent" thing in the scene, but are actually also there to connect to the twist that is revealed later.)
SPOILERS BELOW.
So, when the pregnant person was on that call, I thought, "Listen to every line of this call. It's going to connect to the story later." And then, based on the call, the best guess I could come up with is, "Her dad doesn't remember. So maybe the man sitting next to her is her dad." <3<3 (Really tough topic <3<3.)
On storytelling: I love guessing twists in stories, and I also love being surprised by them when they just CLICK because, after they're revealed, you see how they're connected to clues you didn't connect earlier but that you remember.
I look forward to reading your thoughts and tips in this post! How to set up a twist WITHOUT frustrating the reader is especially relevant to the exact scene I am editing now in my story In Your Dreams, hehe. You cover a very important topic for strong storytelling! Thank you for sharing.
"there is nothing on the page/screen by accident. If you notice something or hear something, whether it seems out of place or not, it is VERY likely that it's there now to help reveal something later." <-- 100% agree! This is essentially the foreshadowing technique known as "Chekhov's gun"... how if you show a gun hanging on the wall in one scene, it should be fired/used in the next (or at the very least, by the end of the story).
I wish I'd mentioned this in the post! But thank you for bringing it up in the comments. I love when the discussion carries over down here :)
Great post! The Wait was excellent. I guessed very early on but only because my grandmother died of Alzheimer's, so it felt all too familiar to me. You're right--we do bring our own stuff to the story. I'm going to check out that book by Catriona Ward. It's been on my list for ages.
I'm sorry for your loss. My grandfather had Alzehimer's too, and yet I was slow to put this one together. Happy reading with Ward's book. It's a bit gritty and dark, but if you can stomach that type of read, you will be rewarded big-time by the end!
Love this post, Erin! I was already having a weepy kind of day and then I watched The Wait and the floodgates opened. LOL Great twists are one of my FAVORITE things in fiction. Two examples that come to mind are The Girl on the Train and the Spanish film, Contratiempo (The Invisible Guest), which has the most shocking twist I think I've ever seen. Check it out if you don't mind subtitles. ;)
Such a great post and a helpful reminder of that amazing collaboration between what the writer creates and what the reader brings to the story and how the alchemy of those two things work some magic! And yes, what a great short film to illustrate the power of withholding information. I actually thought that it might be her father to begin with, then I changed my mind and thought maybe something was wrong with the baby and that his invasive questions about dates were devastating and then, as you said, just before the end...it clicked. It felt very British too!
It clocked for me from the start--her phone call about her dad's appointment. But I bring my own baggage - care-giving for a father with dementia. Nevertheless, a wonderful post and applicable to a tricky plotline in my WIP. Thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom.
Someone else just mentioned that line, and I missed/misheard it upon first watch. Maybe there’s another lesson in here… about how some readers/viewers (like yours truly) take a few moments to settle into a story. 😅
Haha, true. But still, amazing that you saw "pregnant" while I saw "caregiver". Just shows how little control we ultimately have over the effect of our material on viewers/readers.
Yep! It’s pretty amazing. And a good reminder that even as the writer, we can only control so much! Who knows what each reader will bring to the table when consuming any given story.
That was a very powerful film in a short space. But, for me, I figured out the twist fairly early on because we dealt with my Dad's Alzheimer's for years and are now dealing with it in my mother-in-law. So, maybe I just saw some hints that perhaps others not familiar with what dementia does and how you often have to handle it wouldn't see? I don't know. But still, it was an emotional ride and really does illustrate the points in your article.
I think your personal experience likely helped you zero in on that twist. The "baggage" we bring to the table, and all that, whereas my experience as a pregnant person made me view it very heavily through that lens. Also, I'm sorry about your father. 💗
I disliked Six of Crows for the exact same reason my BFF loves it: because the narrator wasn't giving me the whole truth. She liked solving the puzzle of how they were going to fix it, whereas I felt lied to. That's what I thought your post would be about, actually! I want the narrator to be totally honest with me, but anything the narrator finds out that we both didn't know before is a great twist! It's also part of the fun of dual-POV novels: it lets you set up the conflict for the reader before the narrator knows.
This is a really interesting point you bring up, about honest narrators, because unreliable narrators are a Thing. Some people truly love stories where they're not certain if the narrator is being totally honest. (I don't fault you for not liking those; just goes to show how personal and subjective story can be!)
That said, I think unreliable narrators still require a subtle balance to what they share, and how/when they share it. If I personally don't understand or see their motives for being dishonest, I also get frustrated with their dishonesty! THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET actually has what could probably be described as an unreliable narrator, but I think it works beautifully. There are reasons for their vagueness, and when the truth is revealed, it really did feel like a masterful puzzle finally clicking together.
I knew he was going to be demented immediately upon the woman's phone call, because my father is going through the same thing right now. It's hard to watch him slowly die. What a sad video.
GREAT post, Erin! Learning how to work *with* readers is such a valuable skill for authors and you've done a great job demonstrating how to accomplish that!
Thanks, Jodi! It was fun to break down an aspect of writing/story that I haven’t covered on here before.
Love the Firefly example
I'd just seen that short film a few days ago and WOW it's powerful. Amazing example of this.
Did it cross one of your social feeds? That’s where I saw it. Maybe it’s making the rounds. Very powerful, indeed.
Yes I think so? I don't remember where, probably Facebook. So so good!
I love this topic! Thank you for sharing.
Studying/predicting twists is one of my favourite things when watching movies, and I went into watching The Wait knowing to expect some kind of twist, so I had a guess as to what it was after that phone call. But I can share a tip that I've observed in multiple stories that seems to help me guess as a viewer, and craft a compelling mystery as a writer.
I don't know when I first learned this, but this seems to genuinely be true most of the time: there is nothing on the page/screen by accident. If you notice something or hear something, whether it seems out of place or not, it is VERY likely that it's there now to help reveal something later. (And, often, these clues serve dual purposes, so they appear to be achieving one "innocent" thing in the scene, but are actually also there to connect to the twist that is revealed later.)
SPOILERS BELOW.
So, when the pregnant person was on that call, I thought, "Listen to every line of this call. It's going to connect to the story later." And then, based on the call, the best guess I could come up with is, "Her dad doesn't remember. So maybe the man sitting next to her is her dad." <3<3 (Really tough topic <3<3.)
On storytelling: I love guessing twists in stories, and I also love being surprised by them when they just CLICK because, after they're revealed, you see how they're connected to clues you didn't connect earlier but that you remember.
I look forward to reading your thoughts and tips in this post! How to set up a twist WITHOUT frustrating the reader is especially relevant to the exact scene I am editing now in my story In Your Dreams, hehe. You cover a very important topic for strong storytelling! Thank you for sharing.
"there is nothing on the page/screen by accident. If you notice something or hear something, whether it seems out of place or not, it is VERY likely that it's there now to help reveal something later." <-- 100% agree! This is essentially the foreshadowing technique known as "Chekhov's gun"... how if you show a gun hanging on the wall in one scene, it should be fired/used in the next (or at the very least, by the end of the story).
I wish I'd mentioned this in the post! But thank you for bringing it up in the comments. I love when the discussion carries over down here :)
Ohh wow, thank you for explaining about the technique's name and description! That's new to me.
I agree with you--this is a great discussion! Thank you for your reply and for sharing!
Great post! The Wait was excellent. I guessed very early on but only because my grandmother died of Alzheimer's, so it felt all too familiar to me. You're right--we do bring our own stuff to the story. I'm going to check out that book by Catriona Ward. It's been on my list for ages.
I'm sorry for your loss. My grandfather had Alzehimer's too, and yet I was slow to put this one together. Happy reading with Ward's book. It's a bit gritty and dark, but if you can stomach that type of read, you will be rewarded big-time by the end!
I love dark, gritty books. I'm sorry about your grandfather. It's such a horrible disease.
Love this post, Erin! I was already having a weepy kind of day and then I watched The Wait and the floodgates opened. LOL Great twists are one of my FAVORITE things in fiction. Two examples that come to mind are The Girl on the Train and the Spanish film, Contratiempo (The Invisible Guest), which has the most shocking twist I think I've ever seen. Check it out if you don't mind subtitles. ;)
So sorry to unleash the floodgates on you!
Can you believe I still haven't read The Girl on the Train? (I haven't seen the movie either!) Maybe I need to bump it up my TBR.
Such a great post and a helpful reminder of that amazing collaboration between what the writer creates and what the reader brings to the story and how the alchemy of those two things work some magic! And yes, what a great short film to illustrate the power of withholding information. I actually thought that it might be her father to begin with, then I changed my mind and thought maybe something was wrong with the baby and that his invasive questions about dates were devastating and then, as you said, just before the end...it clicked. It felt very British too!
We really do all being something different to the reading experience. It’s pretty magical, actually.
I love how almost the very first line is "yes he's my father." They literally tell you from the beginning!
I somehow missed that line/misheard it! 😅
It clocked for me from the start--her phone call about her dad's appointment. But I bring my own baggage - care-giving for a father with dementia. Nevertheless, a wonderful post and applicable to a tricky plotline in my WIP. Thanks for sharing your experience and wisdom.
Someone else just mentioned that line, and I missed/misheard it upon first watch. Maybe there’s another lesson in here… about how some readers/viewers (like yours truly) take a few moments to settle into a story. 😅
Haha, true. But still, amazing that you saw "pregnant" while I saw "caregiver". Just shows how little control we ultimately have over the effect of our material on viewers/readers.
Yep! It’s pretty amazing. And a good reminder that even as the writer, we can only control so much! Who knows what each reader will bring to the table when consuming any given story.
oh wow, I am crying here...
Thank you, Erin. Incredibly touching example to prove some very good points. Thank you so much for the tips 💚
Ha! Sorry for the water works, but glad the examples were useful to you! :)
That was a very powerful film in a short space. But, for me, I figured out the twist fairly early on because we dealt with my Dad's Alzheimer's for years and are now dealing with it in my mother-in-law. So, maybe I just saw some hints that perhaps others not familiar with what dementia does and how you often have to handle it wouldn't see? I don't know. But still, it was an emotional ride and really does illustrate the points in your article.
I think your personal experience likely helped you zero in on that twist. The "baggage" we bring to the table, and all that, whereas my experience as a pregnant person made me view it very heavily through that lens. Also, I'm sorry about your father. 💗
In Leslye Penelope's newsletter, she just covered twists, also! https://myimaginaryfriends.substack.com/p/oh-the-places-your-story-will-go "Twists are the reveal of the villain’s truth. This truth feels “twisty”, because the reveal of the truth is unexpected to the protagonist."
I disliked Six of Crows for the exact same reason my BFF loves it: because the narrator wasn't giving me the whole truth. She liked solving the puzzle of how they were going to fix it, whereas I felt lied to. That's what I thought your post would be about, actually! I want the narrator to be totally honest with me, but anything the narrator finds out that we both didn't know before is a great twist! It's also part of the fun of dual-POV novels: it lets you set up the conflict for the reader before the narrator knows.
This is a really interesting point you bring up, about honest narrators, because unreliable narrators are a Thing. Some people truly love stories where they're not certain if the narrator is being totally honest. (I don't fault you for not liking those; just goes to show how personal and subjective story can be!)
That said, I think unreliable narrators still require a subtle balance to what they share, and how/when they share it. If I personally don't understand or see their motives for being dishonest, I also get frustrated with their dishonesty! THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET actually has what could probably be described as an unreliable narrator, but I think it works beautifully. There are reasons for their vagueness, and when the truth is revealed, it really did feel like a masterful puzzle finally clicking together.
I'm off to read Leslye's post now, too. Thanks for sharing!
I knew he was going to be demented immediately upon the woman's phone call, because my father is going through the same thing right now. It's hard to watch him slowly die. What a sad video.