MASTER LISTS FOR WRITERS: Thesauruses, Plots, Character Traits, Names, and More (7 page)

25 PLOT TWISTS

Unexpected turns and dramatic reveals are one of the great pleasures of novels and movies. They are the reason why some people hate spoilers.

A well-executed plot twist can keep readers riveted. When they didn’t know it was coming but then look back and realize there were hints all along, it’s really satisfying. Here are some classic plot twists for you to consider!

1. Someone who was presumed dead is still alive. In a supernatural or speculative story, he may have actually died and been resurrected.
   
2. Someone who was acting like an enemy reveals herself as an ally.
   
3. A trusted ally turns out to be an enemy.
   
4. A seemingly average and ordinary character reveals himself to be a genius, fabulously rich, or in possession of remarkable skills.
   
5. A character is actually a ghost or a figment of an unstable imagination.
   
6. The protagonist’s entire reality is fake. It’s a creation of someone in power, an alternate dimension, or his own extended hallucination.
   
7. A beloved character suddenly dies or is killed.
   
8. Someone murders or ruins the person who wronged him, long after it had seemed that he had forgiven the person.
   
9. A character unexpectedly seduces someone—possibly someone he has no business seducing.
   

1. Two characters that no one would have ever suspected have been sleeping together all along.
   
2. Two characters are revealed to be siblings, or parent and child. Depending on how these characters have been interacting, it may be a happy or a disturbing revelation.
   
3. Someone suddenly remembers his true identity.
   
4. Everyone finds out that a character has been possessed or controlled by some other person or entity.
   
5. The outlandish thing a “crazy” person kept insisting was real? It’s real.
   
6. The person who thinks he is the con man is actually being conned.
   
7. Someone has a twin or a clone.
   
8. An investigator of a murder, or an assistant to the investigation, is the murderer.
   
9. The main problem is revealed to be just part of a much bigger and more horrible problem.
   
10. Some small concern or aberration that nobody paid much attention to turns out to be the biggest problem of all.
    
11. Someone’s attempt to solve a problem winds up making it ten times worse.
    
12. A character faces a difficult moral choice—and decides to do the wrong thing.
    
13. A victory is so costly that it seems to set someone up for a final defeat.
    

1. Each character has double-crossed the other.
   
2. In his efforts to prevent something awful, someone actually helps it happen.
   
3. The whole story turns out to be a prequel to a movie or book that came before.
   

25 PLOT POINTS THAT CAN CRACK READERS UP

Humor is one of the most difficult things to write—a fact generally ignored by prestigious film, television, and book awards. People sometimes think that funny writing is an innate talent, and you either have it or you don’t. While some writers have a natural gift for comedy, it’s something you can practice and become competent at, just like most skills.

People often laugh when their expectations are subverted. There is something innately optimistic about this kind of humor, because it suggests that our lives are filled with more possibilities than we had considered.

With several of these situations, whether it’s funny or not is a matter of degree, just as it is in real life. A little teasing may be amusing, while a cutting remark is just plain mean. A tiny failure may be funny, while a huge one is tragic.

Of course, it all depends on your treatment, but here are some situations likely to make your readers laugh.

1. A character mistakes one person for another.
   
2. Someone misunderstands her immediate situation, which makes her behavior completely inappropriate. For instance, she believes she’s on a first date with a cute guy, when it’s actually a job interview.
   
3. A character is extremely proud or thrilled about something that most people would not feel that proud or thrilled about.
   
4. Someone is horrified by a situation or an aspect of another person that most people would appreciate.
   
5. Someone’s wacky scheme is not playing out as he had hoped.
   

1. Someone is going along with an activity that is way out of her comfort zone.
   
2. After expecting to hate an activity, a character winds up totally getting into it.
   
3. Someone’s attempt to lie his way out of trouble fails and makes things more complicated.
   
4. A nervous character keeps misspeaking and makes an ass of herself.
   
5. Under the influence of alcohol or medication, a usually reserved character is goofy or otherwise lets his guard down.
   
6. Someone who no one expects to be sassy and/or a badass is sassy and/or a badass.
   
7. A crass or free-spirited character socializes with refined or repressed people.
   
8. Someone puts an incredible amount of thought and effort into something that most people would consider no big deal.
   
9. A planned event or performance is a disaster, or just comically underwhelming.
   
10. A series of small things go ridiculously wrong for the character as she tries to accomplish a basic objective, such as get ready for work, drive to work, or give a presentation.
    
11. Someone tough is revealed to be a total softie in some way that nobody knew about.
    

1. A character uses an object, a service, or a public or private space for a very different purpose than what it was created for.
   
2. Someone is pretending everything is fine, even though something has gone outrageously wrong.
   
3. A character keeps insisting that something doesn’t bother her, but makes it abundantly clear that it does.
   
4. Intentionally or unintentionally, someone embarrasses her friend by sharing or inventing mildly embarrassing information about him or his past.
   
5. Two people who can’t stand each other or are irritated with one another have to pretend to be in love.
   
6. An undemonstrative person has to deal with a very affectionate one.
   
7. Someone witnesses something he would have preferred to never see.
   
8. A character treats a serious situation in a playful way.
   
9. Someone breaks the rules in a spectacular fashion.
   

10 PLOT POINTS THAT CAN MELT READERS’ HEARTS

It’s not hard to think of tragedies and losses that will break your readers’ hearts. If you want to make readers cry in a good way, however, something here might do it.

1. Someone forgives a penitent person for a big transgression.
   
2. A character or team with significant limitations or challenges finally triumphs.
   
3. A person (or a dog) nearly dies but makes a recovery or gets a reprieve.
   
4. Someone finally confesses his love—or two people finally admit it to each other.
   
5. A character gets a large or meaningful gift, or a touching letter (or a bunch of them), from a person who died or is separated from her.
   
6. Someone helps heal another person’s long-buried hurt or grief.
   
7. A misfit or an overlooked character is accepted or recognized by an individual or a group.
   
8. A character chooses to take a heroic action that seems fated to ruin him.
   
9. Someone makes a grand gesture of love that makes her vulnerable.
   
10. Two people who love each other and have been separated for a long time are finally reunited.
    

50 GOALS AND ASPIRATIONS

One of the simplest ways to craft a story is to give your character a clear goal, put obstacles in the way of this goal, and watch her struggle. Your protagonist may eventually succeed or fail, or she may discover something better than her original vision along the way.

On the other hand, dramatic events in the story may supersede your character’s goals. Some goals and aspirations may not fuel the story, but may help show who the character is and what he values.

So what do the people in your story really want? Many of the ideas here are very widespread aspirations. And hey, if you wind up getting ideas for your own bucket list, no extra charge.

1. Find a job.
   

She may be out of work, or she may just be stuck in a job she hates.

1. Find a partner.
   

Depending on his age, his history, and his comfort with commitment, he might be looking for a husband, or he might just be looking for a boyfriend. In some eras and some situations, love may have nothing to do with your character seeking a spouse.

1. Get a divorce.
   

It’s not always easy for people to get out of unhappy marriages.

1. Have a baby.
   

This common goal could be thwarted by many factors, including the lack of a willing partner, economic challenges, age, health issues, and infertility.

1. Adopt a dog or cat from a shelter.
   

This is a little like a very light version of #4. Your character’s living situation may be an obstacle, however.

1. Earn a degree or certification.
   

Graduating from high school, a vocational school, college, or grad school is a very relatable goal.

1. Travel to a particular destination.
   

It could be somewhere in his own country or a foreign nation.

1. Buy a house.
   

This might be your character’s first house, or one she feels compelled to own for some reason.

1. Run his own business.
   

Many people dream of striking out on their own. Maybe your protagonist dreams of it, too.

1. Hang on to her business.
   

In tough economic times, a person might be focused on keeping her bridal shop, ranch, or online store afloat.

1. Give up an addiction—drinking, smoking, gambling, or drugs.
   

This is a really difficult goal for most, though it can be done.

1. Win a competition.
   

It could be a basketball tournament, a Miss Utah pageant, or a chili cook-off.

1. Lose weight.
   

This may be the most ubiquitous goal there is.

1. Become strong and muscular.
   

This sometimes goes along with #13.

1. Run a 5K, a half marathon, or a marathon.
   

This is a popular fitness goal.

1. Recover from a disease, injury, or illness.
   

Your character may be undergoing treatment for cancer, or she may be battling a mental illness.

1. Reconcile with someone.
   

Your protagonist may want to patch things up with a spouse, girlfriend, or former best friend.

1. Repair something.
   

Fixing up an old house is a worthy long-term goal for your character, and fixing up a boat or car is a great goal for a short story.

1. Help someone else thrive.
   

A character might want to find the right school for her child with special needs, or find a compatible kidney donor for his spouse. Alternately, she may be trying to fix someone who isn’t really trying to fix himself. (Spoiler: it doesn’t work.)

1. Have sex—or have better sex.
   

Some people are actively seeking to lose their v-card. Others have problems they want to fix in the bedroom.

1. Attend an exciting event.
   

Examples include seeing his favorite rock band in concert, going to the Super Bowl, and celebrating New Year’s Eve in New York’s Times Square. It could also be something personal, such as the birth of his child, if he has challenges in getting there.

1. Ensure an exciting event that she is organizing goes well.
   

This could be Christmas with the whole family, a wedding, a family reunion, or a town festival or professional conference she’s pulling together.

1. Avoid arrest.
   

If your character has broken the law, this may be his primary aspiration.

1. Get out of debt.
   

For someone burdened with a lot of student loans or gambling debts, this may be goal #1.

1. Raise money for a cause.
   

He may have come up with any number of ways to help a cause he believes in or a person he knows who has fallen on hard times.

1. Change the law.
   

She may be protesting an unfair rule at her high school or a legal loophole that allows industries to pollute the environment.

1. Convert people.
   

He may be trying to persuade people to become Christians, vegans, or political conservatives.

1. Move to a better place.
   

Your character may believe that there’s a state, city, or country where she would be much happier.

1. Become popular, or just make some friends.
   

This might involve attempts to overcome shyness, joining a group or two... or making changes to how he presents himself, which may or may not be wise.

1. Be a better parent.
   

She may want to spend more quality time with her kids, or stop getting so upset with them.

1. Be her true self.
   

She may be a transgender person who wants to come out and start living as a woman, or she may want to embrace some other aspect of herself that she’s denied.

1. Get a promotion.
   

He may want his boss’s job, or for that matter, he may want to run the whole operation.

1. Learn a foreign language.
   

This frequently appears on people’s lists of things they hope to do someday.

1. Learn how to play a musical instrument.
   

The piano and the guitar are probably the most popular ones.

1. Learn another new skill or craft.
   

It could be sword fighting or website development.

1. Read more books.
   

Here’s another “never stop learning” type goal. Some people set a goal of reading a certain number of books per year.

1. Have a weekly “date night” with his spouse.
   

This is a popular resolution for couples, particularly those with children.

1. Climb a mountain.
   

Because it’s there! As a variation, your character might want to hike somewhere famous, such as the Appalachian Trail, or sail to Australia.

1. See her child get married and have children.
   

Many parents of adult children desire this, and some of them try hard to make it happen.

1. Create something significant.
   

Your character might want to make a homemade quilt or a short film.

1. Become famous.
   

Different people have different ideas about how they might want to make this happen.

1. Be an extra on a television show or a movie.
   

This is for people who would be happy to be a
little
famous, and who just think that this sounds like fun.

1. Retire.
   

Although he may want to do it, financial considerations or nervousness about what he’ll do all day may be preventing him from making the decision.

1. Own her dream car.
   
2. Sleep under the stars.
   

Some people want to do this during a meteor shower. The next one is a similar goal.

1. See the Northern Lights.
   
2. Get a fantastic tattoo.
   

A short-term goal, to be sure, but one shared by many.

1. Get organized and get rid of all the clutter.
   

This usually pertains to a person’s own space, but it can also involve the home of an aging or deceased loved one.

1. Sell something.
   

It could be a house, a car, a screenplay, or a piece of jewelry.

1. Attain spiritual enlightenment.
   

This may involve your character practicing his faith more fully, or it may mean a quest for answers or for the right path. It may involve travel.