7 Awful Plot Twists We're Tired Of Reading

By Rebecca Joines Schinsky for Book Riot

A truly surprising surprise twist—the kind that makes you gasp or clutch your pearls or reexamine everything you thought you knew about a book—is a thing of beauty, especially when you’re the kind of reader for whom suspending disbelief doesn’t come so naturally. (Who’s with me?)

When it works, I can love it, but in general, I am not a fan of the surprise twist, be it a reversal at the ending or a mid-plot change-up. It often seems lazy, a “give ‘em the old razzle-dazzle” approach to distracting readers from a lack of substance, and when done poorly, it can ruin a book for me. And let’s be honest, there are some surprise twist conceits so played out and/or impossible to pull off that no writer should use them again, ever. I propose we start with these. Be warned: I’m spoiling the surprises in half a dozen books here.

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Comments

[Pixie12]

12:17 PM on 12/29/2011

I dunno -- I TOTALLY enjoyed the Historian. :)

[odra]

01:27 PM on 12/23/2011

Who reads books anyway

[Greg Ranzoni]

02:09 AM on 12/22/2011

Can someone explain to me why the Hand of Thrawn Duology is on here? About the only plot twist is that that there is con artist pretending to be Thrawn while at the same time the Imperial Remnant is trying to clone him.

[Ayla87]

04:20 PM on 12/20/2011

#7 Only I refer to it as "Being Fight Club'd" I just finished J.M. Coetzee's "FOE" last wee and I wanted to rip the damn thing in half when I was done.

[ValdaDeDieu]

03:01 PM on 12/20/2011

Discover a some Indie--or self-published books. There's a reason they're considered too "extreme" for a general audience by the Print Distributors...

Some might not be as pristine in editing (found out it takes a team to get a book out)--a few may have formatting problems, but by and large, they're original, exciting and a hell of a read.

For those who buy books because they love reading--not because they want to read what everyone else is reading, or what they are told to read-- an Indie or self-published author might be the way to go...

[The Grouch]

01:22 PM on 12/20/2011

"He's Just Dreaming/Hallucinating" -- Movies are even worse than books, in this regard. Last week I watched "Bag of Bones" on A&E, and Pierce Brosnan was forever snapping out of some nightmare/hallucination. It's a stale, annoying ploy, and it shows laziness on the part of the author/filmmaker.

[Dawn Castle]

09:18 AM on 12/29/2011

Yep, I agree. Pretty awful. But generally the blame lies with the script writer and filmmaker.

[paulabflat]

09:06 AM on 12/20/2011

speaking of m. knight, who didn't know right away that bruce willis was dead?

come on!

[Dawn Castle]

09:18 AM on 12/29/2011

mmmmmm, me. I'm slow to catch on.

[paulabflat]

10:02 AM on 12/29/2011

well. then. take comfort in knowing that you certainly weren't alone.

there's always a linin', ain't there?

cheers.

[MJinCanada]

11:53 PM on 12/19/2011

There are various plot devices that make me say "Oh, come on now!" and one of them is the lost in a rainstorm/fall in the river and swept downstream device that forces the couple-to-be to shelter in some secluded place, forgo modesty and strip to ward off hypothermia. Fade to fireplace....

[Genders]

08:21 PM on 12/19/2011

Zombies, Vampires, ventilation shafts,

[MJinCanada]

12:04 AM on 12/20/2011

Just as long as no one runs to the second floor and hides in a closet.

Actually, a few SF writers have a whole lot of fun with old out-worn plots. Tany Huff wrote a book called Smoke and Mirrors in which a film crew gets trapped in a creepy, possessed haunted house they were using as a set. Tony, the production assistant, becomes the hero partly because he's seen every bad horror movie ever produced and knows what's coming next and what not to do. It's part of a series that has ghosts, werewolves, zombies, a mummy, a few demons, a sexy immortal demongate, and a vampire or two.

My favourite exchange was "The good news is that you're not crazy. There really is an ancient Egyptian mummy wandering around Toronto and murdering people." "What's the bad news?" "The bad news is that you're not crazy. There really is an ancient Egyptian mummy wandering around Toronto and murdering people."

[Genders]

06:48 PM on 12/20/2011

Sure, spoofs of cliches can be amusing, but it's thin.

What's sad is all the great stories out there that never get a chance because we recycle these garbage ideas.

[ShootsFromFar89]

08:06 PM on 12/19/2011

If you cant tolerate overstimulating plot turns, stop reading books written for the mob.

[bugthecat]

05:10 PM on 12/19/2011

For me it is the best friend did it and framed the main character. ARGGG.

[Sandra Rothenberg]

04:45 PM on 12/19/2011

I sense the self-hatred of someone with no literary talent of her own in this article.

[ponyloco]

06:26 PM on 12/19/2011

100% with you...

as they say, everything's been done. it's just a matter of how clever you are in weaving a tale...

[Bike Commuter]

04:34 PM on 12/19/2011

These plot twists are not ones we have grown "tired of reading". Most are merely tried and true plot devices that are used with varying skill by different writers. The "parent switcheroo" goes back thousands of years as it can be found in Greek Mythology as well as the Bible and Arthurian legend. Despite this, it was used to great effect in the movie, "The Empire Strikes Back". "He's hallucinating" (which is not part of the book version of "A Beautiful Mind") is much older as well, and has been used to great effect (consider "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge").

[Eserve1]

04:12 PM on 12/19/2011

"Parent Switcheroo"? You mean the Thrawn clone? Or is that a reference to Vader being Luke's father?

[Ryan Devine]

04:07 PM on 12/19/2011

Pretty sure the Novel was founded on some of these Plot Lines. Notably Moll Flanders, Evelina, and The Monk all had the Secret Parent/Sibling Action. Twists cannot be used single-handedly as gimmicks, but there is only so many ways to shock people.