I would have to say.... Having a plot twist isn't something that you have to have in a novel. Sometimes if the plot is predictable it doesn't matter, because after awhile it doesn't become just," Oh, I wonder where this is going to end up.", But turns into a," I want to see how these characters handle these situations, and watch them grow.". So, there are lots of times when the plot doesn't need a twist at all, and the author throws one in there just for the sake of it. Only insert a twist if you feel like it needs to do so, and when you do, make it make sense.
I think it's not so much about the story, but what the twist is. For instance, if you have the bad guy reveal they have a parental relationship to your hero or that the alien planet your on is really earth, people are gonna groan because those twists are so overdone, people can predict them with enough Checkov's Guns in place. That isn't to say it doesn't work, just that you really need to string you readers along to make the sale. Of course, for me, one of the best twists too the story that I wrote was that there was no twist. The antagonist was pretty up front with his goal, the hero wasn't looking for another goal, and when one reader was done, they even commented on the lack of a twist as being refreshing.
Lots of good advise listed above..... I'd say you get to determine if your story ( your point of the novel ) calls for a twist. If you feel it does, it needs to be set up, early on. A twist for its own sake falls flat. If you set it up properly and then spring it when the reader least expects it you've done your job. If your "twist" is too predictable, it's not a twist but a plot line. Like I said......a whole bunch of good ideas are listed above mine. It's your pen and your keyboard. Go for it! DQ
Looking over my stories I realize that I use twists liberally, but I do my best to foreshadow them. Of course I don't use twists at the very end; sometimes in the middle, sometimes right after the beginning. If foreshadowed properly a twist can have a very positive emotional impact. They last book I read had several twists at the end that set up the sequel. Two I saw coming, but still rattled me a bit, but the third just throw me off and completely blew me away. Not just because of the twist itself, but the fact that it was hidden in plain site! I was like "how did I not see that coming?" I even guessed it at one point, but then I dismissed that idea. I mean it was so clever and it perfectly set up the rest of the trilogy. In other words, I'm all for twists if you can pull them off like that! To me there's nothing like a mid-novel revelation or an ending that just blows your mind. The story just needs to be properly set up for it.
One of the best things about twists in novels is the reread. When you know how the book(s) ends and you're reading through with that knowledge and picking up every little clue that's been left. And I find the best twists are the ones around which the plot is based rather than the twist being a part of the plot. Sub-plots are a really good place for twists, especially if the twist heads the sub-plot towards the main one. What I find more difficult is making sure an excessive number of clues aren't dropped. A nice technique is to drop clues and then drop something that the reader interprets as contradictory but is just generally neutral or has another meaning.
Yes as Mist said, I find the best twists occur in books which have three layers of comprehension. The first layer is what the main character believes to be true, and an adept author will ensure the mc has good reason to be thinking that way. Then there's the second layer, for the investigative readers who are hell bent on working out the potential twist before the big reveal. Here the author sprinkles clues that if the reader does the adequate amount of deciphering leads them to a certain conclusion. This is the diversion layer, and the clues here are deliberately more obvious than the third layer. The third layer is the actual truth and becomes apparent at the big reveal. The clues would also point to this conclusion but with far more subtlely, and because the reader had to do some work just to reach layer 2, they don't even consider the third layer until it hits them in the face, and then they realise the twist was hiding in plain sight. The author just used thier own intuition against them.
Twists work really well in stories trying to prove a point, quite well in stories not trying to make any point but with an alternate explanation incomprehensible to the reader without certain information, and terribly in stories where it's inserted arbitrarily. For example, in Tales of Symphonia, not strictly a novel but an RPG, which is pretty much the equivalent, the cliché plot (SAVE THE WORLD, HERO!) totally reverses. Those angels? They're evil. That goddess? She's not a goddess. Those evil dudes? They're in the same organisation as the 'angels'. By the end of it you understand all of the seemingly random, yet significant events that occur in the plot. It was very elegant indeed; my compliments to their writing team.
You just reminded me of a huge forgotten part of my childhood! i also read the Banana books series and The Worst Witch. As well as Roald Dahl of course.
I personally think that it is very important to have a twist in the story. While it is not a hundred precent nessesary, good diolage and twists keep the story going. I once read a quote that said, "If you cannot pick up a book up and find a major part of the story after the last chapter, it's not worth buying." It's up to you if you decide to have a major backbreaking twist or not, but in the end I think twists work very well in the story and shock the reader into going "oh my gosh" and stop from putting the story down. I've read many books and most have been so-so until they throw in the twist and it's like "OH MY GOSH" and I have to keep reading to know what happens. How this helps! Writewizard
