How many of you like a good plot twist? One that surprises the heck out of you. I do. The trouble is, I read so much that I can almost always figure out the “surprise”. That’s not always that bad. I had someone email me about my book Starfane, and she said even though she kind of saw what was coming, it was a joy ride getting there. I took that as a compliment, but it would have been nice to surprise her. Some readers get what’s going to happen in Starfane, and some people don’t.
But I’m digressing, because I didn’t start this post meaning to talk about Starfane. I’m talking about Kill Me If You Can by James Patterson and Marshall Karp. I’m listening to the audiobook, and the story is told partly in first person and partly in third. When you’re listening to the first person POV, you feel like you really know the person who’s speaking. But suddenly, he’s not who you thought he was. In fact, I rewound three times because I thought I was hearing something wrong. I was floored. I didn’t see it coming. I don’t want to spoil the surprise in case some of you plan to read this book later, so I won’t say what happened. But I was just delighted at the fact that I had been fooled. The plot twist was completely unexpected to me.
How about you? Do you care if you’re surprised or not? Do you love a good plot twist? Would you rather be fooled or would you rather figure it out? I would love to hear from you.
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I love a good plot twist, but like you, it’s hard to put one over on me, both because I read a TON and because as a writer I can often see how the story is coming together. So when someone truly manages to surprise me, it’s a real delight.
It is definitely a delight. I was saying “WHAT?” out loud in the car. LOL
I usually like to be surprised, except when the surprise is totally wrong–like, well, what happened to Wash. But usually. Still, I’m generally not unhappy because I see the way a story’s unfolding– I like to be able to follow as a writer as well as a reader. And sometimes I get more suspense out of “how is she ever going to write her way out of this?” than I do out of the story anyway.
I don’t mind if I figure something out ahead of time if the journey to the answer is still interesting, even if I’ve guessed it. But I still love the surprises, especially since it’s usually hard to truly surprise me. But I also get what you’re saying about the suspense of how the writer is going to handle the situation.
I just finished reading that book the other day. That twist completely floored me too. Had to go back and read it again at least once.
Exactly, Fallon! I played back that part of the cd two or three times because when it was talking about a certain guy, then SHE came in, I thought she was in with the bad guy. Then it turned out….well, you know. 🙂
I love a good plot twist, and I think James Patterson is a master at keeping me on the edge of my seat (especially in his Alex Cross series). Despite the fact that I’m writing mystery, I am still able to lose myself in a good book or movie (I can usually call it pretty fast on a TV show)….
James Patterson is great. But I’m wondering how much he’s contributing in some of these books he’s co-writing now. What do you think?
As far as twists in TV shows go, Ringer has surprised me more than once.
Plot surprises are part of the joy of reading! They only irk me when they’re completely unrealistic given the context of the rest of the story.
Yeah, I definitely agree that the surprise should make sense to the story.
[…] but if I still am not interested, I don’t continue). And then came a major plot twist(which Lauralynn Elliot talked about on her blog this week too). Then, I had trouble putting it down, so the last half went […]