Plot Twist Story Prompts: See Unseen

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, Pretend Relationship, here.

For today's prompt, have a character see what others can't see. It could be ghosts, future events, past events, mathematical equations, and so on. The main thing is that your character has a sight that others don't have.

(Popular Science Fiction Tropes for Writers.)

Of course, there are good and bad things that come with having a power others do not possess. On the plus side, your character has a power others don't possess. They may be able to use that power to their own benefit, though it may also take them a while to figure out how that's possible.

On the negative side, your character has a power others don't possess, which means it's a power others don't understand (and may not trust or believe). As such, there's a lot of potential for conflict and tension when you have a character who sees what others can't.

A good example is Fiver from Watership Down. In that novel, Fiver is able to see or sense the future. It's a good thing, because that power literally saves lives. But it also leads to conflict when people don't believe his visions or understand them. And all of that conflict and redemption leads to compelling storytelling.

So have a character see what others can't, 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.

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