The Secret to Writing Compelling Plot Twists — The Art of Misdirection Explained

Sometimes you think you know where a film is headed and then everything changes. "- I did not see that coming. " - A great plot twist can make or break a movie.

"- I am your father. " - When done well, it could be a moment audiences discuss for years to come. "- Luke, I am your father.

" - Done poorly, it leaves a viewer feeling cheated. "- What the hell just happened? " - This is "How to Write a Plot Twist".

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"- Okay. Some twists. " - A plot twist is an unexpected development which radically changes the outcome of a plot in a work of fiction.

Screenwriting scholar John Truby calls plot twists 'reversals'. According to Trudy, 'A reversal is a reveal in which the audience's understanding of everything in the story is turned on its head. They suddenly see every element of the plot in a new light.

All reality changes in an instant. " - A plot twists can take many forms. There's the identity reveal where a character the audience thinks they know turns out to be someone else entirely.

Or the motive reveal where a character's actions end up having an unexpected explanation. Or the timelines shift where the linearity of a narrative is subverted. Or the twists can be something else entirely.

"- Stop. Let me out. " - As Truby notes, a plot twist often affects the entirety of a story and so it requires a writer to do a lot of planning examining how each piece of their script will be changed based on the twist.

And for a twist to be a twist, it needs to be unexpected. This means a script needs misdirection. In screenwriting, misdirection refers to leading an audience towards the wrong conclusion.

"- Why not Fenster or McManus or Hockney? Why me? I'm stupid, I'm a cripple.

Why me? - Because you're a cripple, Verbal. - The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.

And like that, he's gone. " - In "Memento", Christopher and Jonathan Nolan use an unreliable narrator to provide misdirection. "- It's my memory.

- Amnesia? - No, no. It's different from that.

I have no short-term memory. I know who I am. I know all about myself.

Since my injury, I can't make new memories. Everything fades. " - Leonard's memory loss means his reality is what he tells himself.

And because the audience sees his story unfold backward, we too have to believe what he's saying. Early on in the script, Leonard begins to tell the story of Sammy Jankis. A person who had the same disability as himself.

"- Sammy Jankis had the same problem but he really had no system. He wrote himself a ridiculous amount of notes. .

. but he'd get them all mixed up. " - Nolan emphasizes the importance of Sammy by noting that his name doesn't smudge.

Leonard is quick to establish why he and Sammy are different. "- Sammy wrote himself endless amounts of notes. But he get mixed up.

I have a more graceful solution to the memory problem. I'm disciplined and organized. I use habit routine to make my life possible.

Sammy had no drive, no reason to make it work. " - And explains how he learned about him. "- I met Sammy through work.

Insurance. I was an investigator. I'd investigate the claims to see which ones were phony.

I had to see through people's bullsh*t. It was useful experience, 'cause now it's my life. When I meet someone, I don't know if I've met them before.

I have to look in their eyes and try and figure them out. My job taught me the best way to find out what someone knew was just let them talk. .

. " - To the audience, it is clear why Nolan is including Sammy's story. Leonard explaining Sammy's condition allows him to work in exposition about how Leonard's own memory works.

"- I guess I tell people about Sammy to help them understand. Sammy's story helps me understand my own situation. " - Leonard's confidence in how his method is better than Sammy's adds to the misdirection.

Since at first, we're inclined to believe him. Leonard also states that he can tell if someone is lying. Another mislead because in reality, he's lying to himself.

"- So you lie to yourself to be happy. There's nothing wrong with that. We all do it.

Who cares if there's a few little details you'd rather not remember? " - But later Teddy reveals to Leonard and the audience that Sammy's story is actually Leonard's. "- See, Sammy's wife came to me.

- Sammy didn't have a wife. It was your wife who had diabetes. " A revelation which slowly is unveiled through Teddy and Leonard's conversation.

And emphasized by cutting to what actually happened. "- My wife wasn't diabetic. - You sure?

" - Leonard's misdirection not only misleads the audience but also sets up the final twist of the film. If the Sammy story isn't true then maybe none of what Leonard has been saying is. "- Do I lie to myself to be happy?

In your case, Teddy Yes, I will. " Screenwriter Kevin Williamson injects misdirection throughout his script for "Scream". "- What's your favorite scary movie?

- I don't know. - You have to have a favorite. What comes to mind?

" - From the opening scene, Williamson establishes that "Scream" characters are aware of classic horror tropes. "- You should never say who's there. Don't you watch scary movies?

It's a death wish. " - And that the film will be filled with misdirection focusing on Casey so that the audience assumes, she is the protagonist. An assumption which proves to be false.

But only by Page 18. Williamson then uses obvious misdirection for a double twist. A costumed killer is murdering high schoolers and as the film progresses it seems more and more obvious that Billy is the culprit.

So obvious that the misdirection is lampshaded by movie fanatic Randy starting on page 70 of Williamson script. "- He didn't do anything. - You're such a little lap dog.

He's got killer printed all over his forehead. - Oh, god, really. Then why did the cops let him go, smart guy?

- Because obviously, they don't watch enough movies. This is standard horror movie stuff. "Prom Night" revisited, man.

" - Even Billy's girlfriend Sydney thinks it could be him as this tense conversation on page 94 illustrate. "- You don't still think it was me, do you? - No.

No. I was thinking if it were you it would be a very clever way to throw me off track. Using your one phone call to call me so that I wouldn't think it was you.

That's all. - Really. " So when Ghostface kills Billy, it's hardly a twist because the audience has expected Billy to be a red herring.

"- Billy watch out! " - And because of this, the true twist is that he actually is the killer with the help of a friend. "- Surprise, Sydney.

" - The screenplay emphasizes the reveal on the page by slowing down the scene with paragraph breaks and intimate details. "- Corn syrup. Same stuff they used for pig's blood in "Carrie".

- Williamson uses the audience's prior knowledge of how horror movies usually work as their own misdirection. This type of meta misdirection is fitting for a horror movie about horror movies. Great misdirection requires time to set up like Williamson did with these scenes.

To make a plot twist truly pay off often a writer will hint at it with breadcrumbs. For a huge twist to feel deserved, it usually doesn't come out of nowhere. Often writers will include subtle clues that a viewer will typically only catch on a second watch.

Great breadcrumbs happen underneath the misdirection subconsciously preparing the audience for the twist so that they don't see it coming but when it happens it just feels right. "- Say it. - Because we're the same person.

- That's right. " - "The Sixth Sense" is perhaps the most famous example of this kind of twist set up. "- I see dead people.

" - The reversal comes as a complete shock but looking back at the rest of the film a viewer will notice clues that point to the reveal. When Malcolm and Cole first meet, M. Night Shyamalan emphasizes Cole's terror.

At first, it seems like Cole is just afraid to talk to a stranger. But on second viewing it's clear, he's terrified because he's seeing a ghost. "- How often do you see them?

- All the time. " - Of course, because Malcolm is dead no other characters interact with him. Take this scene with his wife.

It seems like Anna is angry at Malcolm and giving him the silent treatment. "- I know that I've been a little distant. " - Shyamalan even emphasizes the misdirection in the script writing 'Anna waits till he's done and rises from the table'.

But, in reality, she doesn't even know he's there. "- Happy anniversary. " - This gives one of Malcolm's final lines in the scene more weight.

I know that it makes you mad. I just. .

. Feel like I've been given a second chance that I don't want to slip away. " - The second chance is in the form of an afterlife.

The ultimate reveal uses Malcolm's relationship with Anna. "- I miss you. " - Anna's silence reaches a point of no return.

Malcolm breaks and in doing so discovers his true fate. "- I see people. They don't know they're dead.

" - By dropping clues in dialogue and lack thereof throughout the script Shyamalan creates a twist that is shocking but doesn't leave the audience feeling cheated. In the "Shutter Island" screenplay, screenwriter Laeta Kaloridis puts clues in small details in the action. "- I'm Deputy Warden McPherson, gentlemen.

Welcome to Shutter Island. I'll be the one taking you up to Ashecliffe. " - When Teddy first arrives on the island, Kaloridis emphasizes the guards' disposition hinting early on in the story that all is not as it seems.

"- Your boys seem a little on edge, Mr McPherson. - Right now, Marshall? We all are.

" - Kaloridis also uses flashbacks that hint at Teddy's troubled past but doesn't completely tell the audience what happened. In the screenplay, she explicitly notes that the flashbacks are meant to be jarring and incomplete pieces of a puzzle that we slowly put together. Kaloridis hints at the forthcoming identity reveal in this scene with Nurse Mourinho.

"- So you were there. Was there a doctor present? - Yes, Dr Sheehan led the discussion.

- Dr Sheehan? " - When Teddy mentions Dr Sheehan, she writes that the whole room suddenly seems to tense. "- Yes, he was running the session.

He's Rachel's primary, the psychiatrist who directly oversees her care. " - Later, it becomes clear this is because Dr Sheehan is, in fact, Teddy's partner. "- I've been your primary psychiatrist for the last two years.

I'm Lester Sheehan. " - Hints in action lines of a screenplay allows skilled directors like Martin Scorsese to foreshadow plot twists visually without having to rely solely on dialogue. "- She used practically the same words as Cawley and the nurse, -like she'd been told exactly what to say.

-Who's Andrew Laeddis? " - Of course, a major consideration when writing for a plot twist is its place in a story's structure. There is no hard and fast rule as to where a reversal should be placed in a plot but wherever a writer chooses has massive ramifications on the story's structure.

In "Psycho", a plot twist is placed right in the middle of the story. This reversal allows for the plot to take an entirely new direction. The film has shifted from a heist movie to a slasher.

This type of plot twist acts as an extreme version of a midpoint. A notable plot point in the center of a story. Having the plot twist so early in the film also means writer Joseph Stefano doesn't need to worry as much about hinting at the reversal beforehand because the misdirection only lasts for 45 minutes rather than the entire run time.

Stefano has enough time to tell an entirely new story. "- I'll just have to pick up the pieces from here. " - Plot twists can serve as a break into the final act of a script.

In "Get Out", the reveal that the entire family is trying to kidnap Chris transitions the story into the third act. While it becomes clear Rose's family is up to no good earlier Rose's motive reveal happens almost exactly three-fourths into the screenplay in line with a three-act structure. First, Jordan Peele has Chris find an extremely suspicious clue.

And indicates that rose has changed with a parenthetical. "- You ready? - Yeah, I'm just looking just looking for my camera.

" This sets up the break into the final act where all the cards are put on the table confirming the twist. "- Where are those keys, Rose? - You know I can't give you the keys, right, babe?

" - The stakes have been established and Chris must now find a way to escape the trap which has been laid in the first two acts of the film. A twist can also be the climax of a film. "- You maniacs.

You blew it up. " - There is a lot riding on this type of reversal since the audience won't be able to spend much time in the new reality established by the revelation. In "The Village", the massive plot twist is also the climax of the film.

First M. Night Shyamalan unveils a smaller twist as a break into act three. "- Do your very best not to scream.

" The monsters aren't real. "- Those We Don't Speak Of. Do not be frightened.

It is only farce. " - But this twist doesn't resolve the story. The reversal acts as misdirection for the larger twist which occurs even later.

"- Mile 27, there's a girl. I'm gonna check it out. " They aren't living in the 19th century but rather are isolated from the modern world.

"- Where are you from? " This reveal explains the mysterious rules of the town. "- We do not go into their woods.

They do not come into our valley. " - While also fulfilling the goal of the protagonist. The story arc is brought to a close.

Where a plot twist is placed has massive ramifications on the structure of his writer's screenplay affecting the story both before and after the reveal. What do you need to write a great plot twist? Misdirect the audience but leave breadcrumbs so they don't feel cheated.

And finally, place the reveal strategically in the overall structure for maximum impact. When done well a plot twist can deepen the themes and create a story that rewards multiple viewings. It isn't for every script but a shocking reveal is sure to get people talking.

Ready to ride the next great reversal? Start your script with StudioBinder screenwriting software. And don't forget to subscribe and click the bell for more filmmaking videos.

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