Plot Twist Story Prompts: Split Up

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, Running Empty, here.

For today's prompt, have your characters split up. If there are four characters, maybe they can break up into two groups of two. If there are two characters, have them both go solo. Anyone familiar with Scooby Doo cartoons knows that you can easily break up a group of five into two and three. 

(Common Writing Mistakes Writers Make.)

There are a couple benefits to a story when characters split up. First, they may become more vulnerable in a smaller group (or alone) than when they're part of a bigger group. This raises the risk and suspense, which is why it's a popular tactic in mysteries, thrillers, and horror. But that's not the only benefit of splitting up.

When characters split up, the writer can reveal information to those characters at different times and create dramatic tension. For instance, character A (and the reader) may know about a threat that is unknown to character B, who is walking right into the danger zone.

So split up your characters and find out where it takes your story.

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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.