Thriller Plot Twist Benchmarks + Thriller Planning Tips
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2024
- I'm breaking down the spots in your thriller manuscript where you HAVE to have good twists--whether they are big gamechangers or subtle (but marked) shifts in the status quo. They are spots where all good thrillers have something exciting happen. After I go through these twist spots, I'm sharing three of my top tips for tracking your thriller plot and structuring and/or fixing your book.
00:00 Introduction
02:15 Essential plot twist overview
04:23 What about the inciting incident?
05:25 30% twist
07:18 50% twist
10:45 70-85% twist
14:07 90% issues & last page twists
15:16 Tips for thriller plotting
16:28 Tracking scene/story questions
19:52 Story threading/cause & effect
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Tracking scene/story questions
1. What does my character know?
2. What do they want to know?
3. What do they think they know?
4. What do they need to know or experience to get them to the next step?
5. What is that character thinking?
6. What do the readers think they know?
7. What do I want them to think?
"I can't believe I do this on books without crying - actually, you're allowed to cry" lmaooo
Sharp Objects is an example of a book where the bigger twist came at like 80-90% and it WORKED
I cant help but to stare at the books behind her.
I just wanted to write a plot twist, and this vedio popped up,
I'm planning to write a thriller/mystery for NaNoWriMo! What a lovely coincidence!
Through these videos you made me realize my current fantasy suspense WIP has thriller structure. Thanks for all the help!
Thank you so so much Alexa. I really needed this video. x
I spent the last week not looking at my WIP because I am at that 85% point and it got so hard, I was going to throw in the towel and make the 75% twist the final twist. This really helped clear my head so I can go back to my original 85% "throw the kitchen sink" twist. I am so excited to go back and actually write it.
The POV shift moment is very much Gone Girl haha
Love this! Thanks! I get asked all the time how I know when to throw a twist or reveal into my books - from now on I might just link to this video 😄
Always happy to see a new Alexa video ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤
Yessss to more thriller content :) I'm planning mine out right now for Nanowrimo and your videos are invaluable!
Thanks for this! I always struggle with how to structure my writing on the macro level so this was really helpful :)
This video is exactly what I need in my writing life today!
I second your tip at 16:30 100%! Super great advice. It might not seem like much during the outlining phase, but it's a life-saver once you're down in the trenches actually trying to keep things on track.
One for the regulars - the slow-burn book Alexa mentions on her second to last TBR, and also reviewed recently. I read it for the same reason and felt the exact same thing. All I can say is (spoiler alert) - 50% is a safe place for a game change. ;)
Alexa, you are amongst the few BEST sources on here. I thank you very much. I probably saw this last year but am revisiting your vids as I write my thriller through nanowrimo. Having spent much more time on here since, only for writing advice and tips, my judgements come with authority ( sounds a bit Cartman from South park but hey ho..) Great video this one. Thanks, all the best to you
It's crazy how I found you on youtube love your book the stars we steal!!
This is another great video, helped me understand more. I am a little too dumb for thrillers but still helpful.
Great video! Very informative!
Very helpful video. Thanks!
As you are explaining the plot twists and when they happen also with the ticking clock because it reminds me almost exactly in what Dean Koontz did in His novel velocity, where the Villian is leaving him notes giving him a time frame to make a choice before he kills a victim. Thatsbjust one example but it shows this process and method very well and is a great read that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys thrillers.
Sincerely, thank you for this very helpful video. I threw my stack of notes in the garbage last month but I see it may have a chance yet.
Is it just me or does she seem like better than any book I have bought on the subject? Seriously! I will have to watch this video a few times to get all of the good info out of it.
Yes! Thank you!!!
This was so helpful! You should put all your advice into a book. Everything you've shared is 10 times better than the books out there on mystery/thriller. I have a question about scenes. Do you follow the typical goal, conflict, resolution model? Or do you do something different?
Loving all of this thriller content! Definitely something I'll be rewatching extensively in the future.
I've asked this before but I don't know if there is an answer for it... can Thrillers ever be successfully done into series? I know of next to none except for serial mystery detective stories (where you have the same MC but they're solving a different crime every time). I actually like that thrillers are standalones, but I have an idea for a duology and I'm not sure if that just fundamentally ruins it. Like, the pacing would feel completely off if there wasn't some kind of resolution and answer in book 1, but then to keep up with the gut punches and twists in book 2, wouldn't it also make book 1 feel really irrelevant? Like, you would potentially end up undoing so much of book 1 with little revelations and I could see that massively frustrating readers.
If anyone has any thriller series to recommend that would be awesome. I know of Karen McManus' "One of us" duology and it's on my TBR. I ended up reading "The Outliers" trilogy by Kimberly McCreight, but that ended up being more of like an action series with a sci-fi twist reminiscent of dystopians.
Caroline Kepnes did a thriller series. It's now a TV show on Netflix. You and Hidden Bodies. She's working on books three and four for the series. They're like romantic thrillers
Series are pretty rare in the commercial psychological thriller space--I can't think of any off the top of my head--but common in mysteries/cozies, and in detective-style thrillers. Tana French comes to mind where the detective characters are consistent. In the action/adventure subgenre, someone like Dan Brown uses Robert Langdon repeatedly, though I don't think his books are formally considered a series. And, re: the example of Caroline Kepnes... definitely an exception, and also IP (developed by Alloy). My main caution would be that it's HARD to sell a breakout thriller, so you're typically not going to get away with a slow burn that would have pay off in a book 2. You need to hit it out of the park in your debut to get published/stay published.
@@AlexaDonne Gotcha... don't worry about trying to make a duology work, focus on a good standalone first!
And thanks everyone for the suggestions, definitely checking stuff out
@@amy-suewisniewski6451 I think a duology would work if the first one is a real punch in the face. Like a GREAT thriller that really establishes the MC and leaves readers wanting more. But each book would need it's own story, you know?
Thrillers can definitely be a series eg: dan Brown's Robert Langdon series but unfortunately it is just like mystery every novel is the main character (usually new cast of side charecters but sometimes even the same cast of side kicks.) And every novel is its own story and in every book there is a new problem. Hey but if you want to take a new path definitely try it. It might be something fresh that hasn't been done before
I'm watching this with the lying game in mind and I can tell the beats for each percentage point. Gonna look out for it while I read the death of Mrs Westaway
... I didn't like The Lying Game haha. I plan on rereading it at some point to analyze why IMO it didn't work, as a fun exercise :)
I would love to hear about how to be a best selling romance novelist if your traditionally published
Very helpful, Alexa! Scary, but helpful...lol!
Great video! Finding your channel has been a blessing as I attempt to write a thriller.
I have a question though (not you’re related to this, but more general thriller plotting). How concerned/effort should I put into having a character arc for the main character? If a thriller is primarily plot driven, do I need to worry as much about making sure the MC learns a lesson about themselves or some theme arises?
It is a good idea to add in to ur book if wanted, but it's not necessary for the story to play out how you want it to, ultimately it's ur choice, if u think it fits, then add it!
What happens when the killers motives aren’t super clear, or they don’t have a motive at all? What if it’s a serial killer? Does that still make it a thriller? Does the twist have to involve a motive?
Thank you
Have you done, or could you do a video on how to do research for novel writers?
I really love writing real life stories but don't have any idea about it where to start.
I also want to write my first novel in between 45k to 60k words based on true life story that where life go away with you.
Are there any great thrillers you can recommend that are your favorite examples of this?
I just realized I did all these unconsciously in my book. Lol. Maybe it comes from watching and reading a lot of the genre
If there are so many rules, why not program computers to write novels?
ugh, you lose me when you start with % where writers "have" to have certain plots
They're more benchmarks/ballparks than paint by numbers and I hope I made that clear in the video? But, yes, if you don't have SOMETHING happen at approximately these points, your thriller pacing is off? That is the aim of the video, to help guide writers in a different way, re: measuring pacing. I use percentages as guidelines not rigid goals--happily I'm not Blake Snyder telling you if X doesn't happen on page 20 your whole script is garbage :)
@@AlexaDonne yeah, it helps to have an idea of what could we expect
You are a thriller book your full of meat and pump but full of twist and mystery 😶😶