I'm pondering how I want to implement my wanted plot twists into my story. Two subjects come to mind with Plot Twists I'd like to see people's opinions of. 1. To you, what make a plot twist good? How does this change with how major of plot changes the twist makes? 2. How is a plot twist done well to you? Is there a line of too obvious or two out of left field you can put into words? And any other comments on plot twists are welcome as well.
For me, a plot twist is successful if it is both surprising and believable. It's successful if I don't see it coming, but when it comes, I have to be able to say "Yes, that makes sense! That could happen!" If I see it coming from a mile away, it won't work. Or, if I'm thinking "Oh, come on! There's NO WAY that could ever happen!" it also won't work. It's not much more complicated than that. Alistair MacLean was a master of believable plot twists. His "Where Eagles Dare" keeps your head spinning towards the end. Good thriller stuff!
To me, whatever the situation the character is in, I would either make it worse or better. For instance, if Craig tries to open up the craiglist website, the plot twist would be that he struggles to do so only to find himself openning up a Craiglist restaurant instead of a website (I know this is a bad example of plot twist though).
For me, minstrel hit the nail on the head. The twist has to be unexpected, but not so far out of the realms of possibility as to make it unbelievable. One of the most often quoted plot twists is in the film The Sixth Sense, where (I'll be as vague as possible in case people reading have yet to see the film) the conversations that you think people are having with Bruce Willis are in fact being conducted with the other people in the room, except when he's talking with Haley Joel Osment.
