Kernel of Insight: Twists and Turns

Once again, no new chapter...rest assured, I'm working on it.  I should have it done in a week or two.  I know, I know, I missed my deadline but April has been a hellish month for me.  Regardless, I HAVE kept writing, alongside work, looking for work, preparing for work, and relaxing from work(I'm so not clever XD) and I do have something for you this week.  So, let's take a look at plot twists...and how to hopefully not mess them up.

Kernel of Insight: Twists and Turns

            I want to talk for a moment about plot twists, in particular, surprise twists.  Why?  Well, we've had a drastic tonal shift since the last chapter and the next one isn't due out yet, which has some other twists of sorts, so...now seems like the perfect time.

            A plot twist, by definition, is just the changing of a plot's direction.  Usually a radical change for the purpose of revealing new information, altering the perception of a character, or furthering the plot in a way that the audience might not yet understand.  However, in recent memory the term "Twist" has become something of a dirty word in literature, video games, and film.  Why?  Because many people try to play the plot twist card to try and seem clever, raise the stakes, or alter the narrative in a way that people didn't expect in hopes of shocking them and thus becoming more memorable.  And most people are sick of it.  In truth, a twist ending or some plot twist that changes the way the audience views their chosen method of storytelling is not inherently bad...people may not like it but still...however, it can be incompetently handled or unnecessary.

            In my mind, you need to have two things for a plot twist to work in most situations.  The first is that it must be plausible within the world of the story.  For example, a contemporary fiction story that suddenly has a magician come in, wielding arcane spells to change things around, is a bit of a stretch.  This can be waved away by the second requirement, namely the planting of seeds.  You need to plant seeds that the possibility is actually possible or plant seeds to try and set future events into play that will build upon the twist.  A magician appearing for five minutes to give a character his romantic ending in a story with no magic is out of place.  A magician appearing in a story to change the perspective and let the audience know that YES, magic DOES exist is not necessarily bad.  If you foreshadow it properly, it will go down well.  However even if you don't, if your story can pick up the slack and you give some manner of explanation later, harvested from seeds you've planted, then that isn't so bad either.

            A plot twist is something we see in every reading, sometimes without realizing it because of how well it fits into the plot and flows.  Using my own story as an example, look at the section where Deminos accidentally teleports the girls to Draconia.  This IS a plot twist, because we go from the slice of life style story of Mina and the others learning about and understanding Aeon and his companions to a story of survival in an unknown and dangerous environment.  It takes the story in a different direction.  However, many people might not have even paid it much mind.  Why?  Well, teleportation magic is a thing in the world of Serano.  We've seen it in action with Aeon and Mina, it's been explained by other characters, and the device that Aeon uses for teleportation has been seen and used before.  We have a precedent.  This is physically possible within the context of the story.

            Now, look at some of the other things that led up to this moment.  We've had constant foreshadowing that Deminos was hiding something from the girls and anxious about it.  His rubbing of his arm, bravado, the fact that he wore bandages with it even during his exercises, all of those were signs that something about his arm was different and that he had a secret.  Thus, it is not entirely surprising when he does something unexpected, like attacking Yuka and using the teleportation relay, since there is some doubt about him.  From the girl's perspective, we've seen that they like Yuka, that Celine and Mina are both physically fit and capable of fighting, and that they have a low opinion of Deminos due to his personality.  The seeds are in place for them to fight after Deminos has attacked Yuka and meddled with the teleportation relay.  Couple that with the precedence itself, which plants seeds that the teleportation relay will be used again and this plot twist is viable.  Even expected for those paying attention.

            That's an interesting thing about a plot twist.  It is still a twist, even if the audience calls it before it happens.  It's meant to shift the plot in a different direction.  In the case of my previous example, for the sake of characterizing the girls and Deminos, explaining conjuration, introducing concepts to the plot such as Dragons, Aeon's human form, Deminos's arm, and Aeon's unusual power.  It plants more seeds while growing the characters and the plot.  The ultimate resolution of this plotline is that Mina wants to learn magic so that she won't be a burden, like when she was grabbed by a Dragon.  In a way, she has shown the audience that physically and emotionally, she can do a great deal, as she is able to conquer her fear and help Aeon out of the rubble he has been buried in.  However, she also is lacking in power, I.E. magic.  This creates a reason for her continued presence with Aeon, to learn magic, which also feeds into her own character growth and furthers the plot by leading to more interactions with the other characters. 

            The small seeds planted with each twist grow into trees that bear fruit, which the audience eats, spits out new seeds(their understanding of the character growth and excitement/speculation on what is to come,) which will grow into trees that bear fruit, etc. etc.

            However, for a twist to make sense, it needs to be possible and it needs to have seeds planted in some way or another.  Seeds do not have to be blatantly planted either.  Sometimes the audience learns more from what is NOT seen rather than what is.  Take note that Aeon is revealed to have a great deal of power during his battle with Denad and Belial.  But what don't we see a lot?  We don't see power on the scale of him fighting Belial much after that and we don't see that special power he used when fighting Rudra.  The seeds are planted that there is something about his ability and his full power that prevents him from using it freely, for one reason or another.  Could be simple apathy...could be that there's more here than meets the eye.  Perhaps a touch I like in particular is that Aeon shows no sign of real mercy to many of his enemies.  He could have saved Denad, but does not, showed no mercy towards Baran, only concern for Nerise, and no mercy towards any of the creatures that attacked Gesthal.  However, in Draconia, we know that Aeon can cut down the Dragons.  He's said he will cut them down if they attack...and yet he doesn't.  The act of not killing them, coupled with a few hints that Dragon killing is a MAJOR no no, kind of sets limits to what he will do based purely on his own wants/desires.  No matter how selfish or pitiless, Aeon won't cross that kind of line.  That plants more seeds as to how the character will act or change or be perceived later.

            When writing a plot twist, you kind of need to have some version of it in mind, because if you don't start preparing early, then your audience will call bullshit on you from the start.  You need to keep in mind what is and what isn't said.  What is and what isn't shown.  And if that, for you, would be enough to let the possibility of the twist exist.  If you pull something out of your ass...if a character or if an event happens that is completely unforeshadowed, the reader will roll their eyes and your flow, your characters, and your credibility as a narrator will be hurt.  If, for example, Rudra starts to attack but right before he kills everyone he stops because just then the, "Festival of Dragons" started and he had to go attend...the audience would be flabbergasted.  Horrified even at how stupid that kind of twist is.  They'd pick it apart in an instant.  Now, plot twists don't have to be perfect.  An audience member might still point out how that doesn't make sense, but if you prepare, you can at least say that it was planned...that you worked towards it...that you EARNED it.  That you didn't pull it out of thin air.

            Deus ex Machina is almost never a good idea.  In satire, you might be able to get away with it, but in a serious narrative, it can be the kiss of death for the plot, because the reader just wonders what the finger of god will come down on next.  No matter how strange a twist, how powerful a character, or how implausible an event, if you properly prepare and foreshadow, it will be more believable and the audience will roll with it, because they like the story and this is keeping it moving.

            The upcoming chapter has some minor twists, I think, because it upsets the norm in small ways.  Not unbelievable ways, but in subtle ones.  In ways the audience might be surprised by, might not, but still accept as possible, and probable.  It has seeds for future chapters laid out, if you're able to actually see them, and it will pay off on some seeds already planted.  Each chapter should build and the twists should help with that.  A twist should build, rather than tear down.  It layers the plot and makes it more stable, again if done right, rather than making it shakier and less believable.

            Anyway, all that being said, I hope you all like the next chapter.  I wonder what people will pick up, what they might speculate on, and what you will be right about.  Let's see, shall we?