Plot Twist Story Prompts: Technical Error
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, False Confirmation, here.
Plot Twist Story Prompts: Technical Error
For today’s prompt, have the day saved or ruined by a technical error. This is a plot twist device that often brings in contracts and specific language. While many people glaze over when faced with long lines of rules, technical errors and/or oversights can lead to big consequences (both good and bad) for characters.
(3 Reasons Your Characters Should Break the Rules.)
Not a book, but one of my favorite examples of this type of plot twist is from the movie Army of Darkness when the character Ash has to retrieve a book and recite three simple words to stop an evil force. The problem is that he can’t quite remember the third word and tries to cough his way through it, which leads to major problems for everyone.
On the flip side, an antagonist may seem to get away with some horrible misdeed when the solution is found in a small clause in a contract. But honestly, even vampire lore often features a huge technical error when people grant a vampire access to their homes.
So have the day saved or ruined by a technical error, and see what happens next.
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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.