Plot Twist Story Prompts: Bad Place

Plot twist story prompts aren't meant for the beginning or the end of stories. Rather, they're for forcing big and small turns in the anticipated trajectory of a story. This is to make it more interesting for the readers and writers alike.

Each week, I'll provide a new prompt to help twist your story. Find last week's prompt, Correct Conspiracy, here.

For today's prompt, make the setting the antagonist of your story (or at least, an antagonist). The characters may or may not realize that the place itself is the antagonist, but the setting should be working against the goals of the protagonists.

(5 Tips for Building a House or Setting That Comes Alive for Readers.)

For instance, a cursed or haunted house may keep the protagonists from leaving the house...alive! Or the characters could be in a simulated world that is trying to stop them. But you don't have to limit yourself to buildings and simulated realities.

In my favorite book The Little Prince, the desert is one antagonist from the perspective of the narrator who crash lands his plane there. While getting to know the little prince, he's worried about fixing his plane and finding water...to stay alive. Conversely, many characters have had to fight the sea.

So make the setting the antagonist of your story, and see what happens next.

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Have you hit a wall on your work-in-progress? Maybe you know where you want your characters to end up, but don’t know how to get them there. Or, the story feels a little stale but you still believe in it. Adding a plot twist might be just the solution.

Click to continue.