Greetings from the Author’s Chair.

Today, I’ll be discussing what a twist and turn is when plotting. How do the many twists and turns of a science fiction book, change the mission of the protagonist.

First of all, one must use caution when developing a storyline. Don’t give too many twists, as it will tend to confuse the reader. Now, you ask I have a great idea for my story and tons of twists. How can that be a bad thing?

Well, it’s not really a bad thing to have twists that the reader can’t possibly anticipate. However, you can overload them. Now, don’t confuse twists and turns with cliffhangers. I’ll discuss cliffhangers in my next article.

So, what is a turn in a story? Before you can turn the story or add a cool twist to take the reader by surprise, the author needs to have a mission. These are goals for the hero to achieve by the end of the story. Here’s an example of one of my favorite movies, and everyone should know this if you’re any kind of sci-fi buff; “Star Wars”.

The main goal at the beginning of the story is, Princess Leia has been captured by the evil Darth Vader. She now is in need of rescuing by her knight in shining armor. However, we don’t yet know who that knight is. Right before the princess is captured, she sets the stage for the stories first turn. She programs R2D2 to find help on the planet below. C3PO and the cute little R2D2 escape in a pod and crash land on the plant below.

This turn at the beginning of the story, puts the robots in the hands of the first hero, Luke Skywalker. Luke then goes out to seek out and finds Obi Wan Kenobi. Eventually, they hire Han Solo to take them to Alderon where the rebel base is located.

Later in the story, they discover that Alderon is been destroyed. This new revelation creates a new obstacle: the Death Star. This new turn in the story, changes the mission of the protagonist. They now must destroy this evil machine that’s nearly the size of a moon.

This is a classic example of storyline turns. There are several, and they are manageable throughout the story. What the hero wants, changes from saving the princess, to preventing the Death Star from destroying more planets.

There are a couple of types of turns or twists. These events can be either from revelation or by an action, such as sending the robots to the planet in an escape pod. The discovery of the Death Star is a revelation that causes the story to twist mid-way.

One method used, is keeping the main goal alive. However, make each step to achieving the goal, harder and more challenging. Another method, is to drastically use an action that creates a barrier that’s so hard to overcome; the protagonist has to choose a different course of action in order to reach the goal.

One of my favorite movies uses a wonderful revelation in the story that changes the way the hero behaves. In the original Planet of the Apes, our hero, Charlton Heston learns that the very planet he’s trying to get off, is in fact the planet he wants to get back to: Earth. He learns that he’s hundreds of years in Earth’s future. The cool thing is that he doesn’t find this out until the final scene. Not only does this create an interesting twist in this storyline, it also sets up a cliffhanger, making room for more films.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, is another classic cliffhanger that turns the storyline at the end with the revelation that the evil Darth Vader is in actuality, the father of the protagonist.

Now that you have your main plot, you should also know how your story will end. You need to begin to formulate your twists and turns. You’ll need to figure out what obstacles you’re going to toss at your hero, and where in the storyline those will be placed.

Don’t forget that your story should have a climax; a central point in your story that your hero needs to make a major decision. This should be one of your major twists to the story. It needs to be a big one, and it should make the outcome possible or impossible. Make your character choose one direction. This is where the conflict comes to a head. What you decided to do from here on out, will change the entire outcome of the story, so use prober planning.

Finally, after your hero has made their choice, do their actions help or hinder the plot-twists? Will they succeed or fail in their mission? It’s your story, so you decide. There are several benefits of causing your hero to fail; it could set up your story for more books down the road. Of course, everyone wants to see your hero reach his goal, so perhaps give them a partial success.

Make sure you tie up as many loose ends as possible. Then, choose if you will end the story with a cliffhanger. Just don’t go too crazy with cliffhangers at the end of the book, as it can lead the reader to frustration. If you do leave it up in the air, make sure you give the reader something to feel good about. You want to ensure you do it in a way that will have them coming back for more when the next installment is written.

Twists and turns in a storyline are very important in the development of a book. Use them wisely, and throughout your book to make it interesting.

Next time, I’ll be discussing what cliffhangers are, and how to use them throughout a story.

From the author’s chair,

Brian K. Larson