  Short Stories
This week: Edited by: Ben Langhinrichs  
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"Come on, baby, let's do the twist!"
- Hank Ballard (made more popular by Chubby Checker)
Greetings! I'm a new editor for the Short Stories Newsletter, and I hope to share some of my thoughts on writing short stories, and perhaps about writing in general. I suggest you treat these not as pearls of wisdom dropped from on high, but rather musings of a fellow writer, written to inspire, provoke or stimulate your personal muse. I welcome your thoughts, feedback and suggestions. - Ben Langhinrichs |
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“Whenever he saw a dollar in another man's hands he took it as a personal grudge, if he couldn't take it any other way.”
- O. Henry
You are reading a story which with great characters and a predictable, but pleasant, plot when suddenly, the story twists around and goes in a completely unexpected direction. Do you toss the book over your shoulder in disgust, or sit up a bit straighter and pay closer attention? It depends on how the author has handled "the twist".
O. Henry was a master of the twist. The Gift of the Magi, probably his most famous short story, relates the story of a young couple with almost nothing to their names except their love for each other, facing a Christmas with no money for gifts. Della has beautiful hair, so Jim longs to buy an expensive set of Combs which they have seen in a store window. Jim has a watch, an heirloom, and Della longs to get him a fob befitting its elegance. Each stumbles on the idea of selling their treasure, Della, he hair, and Jim, his watch, to get the money with which to purchase the wonderful Christmas present for the other, but when they have, the twist is that Della does not have long hair to comb, or Jim a watch for his fob.
Stories in every genre and style have twists, some small and some mind-bending. But even with all this twisting and turning, there are some tips that may help your twists make for an exciting rollercoaster ride rather than a sickening thud and a lost reader. Some thoughts about how to make a plot twist effective:
 "Foreshadowing" plants seeds which make the plot twist more believable in retrospect. The reader will be happier with "Oh gosh, I should have caught that clue!" than "Nobody could have predicted that - I was cheated!"
Twists within a genre are more likely to be accepted. If the beautiful starlet who has been flirting with the stud since the beginning suddenly runs away with his brother, the reader will accept it more than if she is suddenly abducted by aliens. On the other hand, you can get away with a clever twist of genres if you plant enough seeds via foreshadowing.
As with a mystery, you can use "red herrings" to distract the reader from the true purpose of these early seeds. A bonus with this is that if your story is not a mystery, the reader is more likely to fall for red herrings. Mystery aficionados are much harder to fool.
A twist can act like a ratchet, and increase the suspense, or it can act like a punch line, and end the suspense. Be careful which you put where. If your punch line is in the middle of the story, it may be hard to get the reader's attention back.
For an extensive discussion of the mechanics of twists endings in stories, see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist_ending.
Come on, baby, let's do the twist! |
It's all about survival.
A twist within a twist, all in a very short story.
Humor and magic mix well in this twisted tale.
A twist based on the main character, and a slightly unreliable narrator.
Once you get past the psionic powers and the levitation, this is a good old-fashioned detective/mystery, with a twist, of course.
An unusual twist for a scary story, which often offer only an implied twist at the end.
A clever twist regarding a character's hidden motivations.
Here is a switch of genres that works fairly well (just to demonstrate that my suggestions should always be taken with a grain of salt). |
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Since this is my first newsletter, I had to come up with all the picks myself. I'd very much like to hear your suggestions for short stories that seem worthy of more attention, whether they are yours or somebody else's. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
I also welcome any feedback on this newsletter, or suggestions for future issues.
Let's make this a dialogue, and not simply a soliloquy.
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Short Stories: August 12, 2009 Issue [#3214]
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