The
Wow Moment goes by a number of names – Plot Twist (though it’s more than that),
the Big Reveal, the Unexpected Turn, the Reader Epiphany. But whatever you call
it, it’s that moment in your story that makes the reader come bolt upright and
go “Wow, I never saw that coming” yet they also totally buy into it. It also
makes the reader reevaluate everything that came before this point in the story and resets
their assumptions of what will come next.
Think
of the moment when Darth Vader reveals he’s Luke’s father, or when it’s
revealed that Malcolm Crowe, Bruce Willis’ character in The Sixth Sense, was
himself a ghost. In literature, great Wow Moments can be found in
O’Henry’s gift of the Magi and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.
We
can all agree that when done well, this is a very effective tool to ramp up the
reader’s enjoyment of, and engagement with, your story. So how do we go about
creating these in our own stories? That’s the question I set out to answer for
myself. Here are some tips I’ve gleaned through observation and research.
Before I dig into the meat of this, though, there's one thing I want to make clear - not every
story requires a big Wow Moment. There are lots of quieter stories that work
just fine, that perfectly satisfy the reader without one.
Now,
let’s dig in and discuss some various techniques and tips I've come up with.
Reader expectations.
In
order to surprise your reader you must first understand what her expectations
are. And as a reader yourself this should be fairly easy to do. So when it comes time to craft one of your story’s major turning points, make a list of at least
10 things that might happen. This should include everything that immediately jumps out at you, no matter how cliched, far fetched or predictable. Then set
those aside. Somewhere in your next list of 10 things you will hopefully find
an idea you can pull out and explore, tweak, twist and turn inside out to make
for a more satisfying, much less predictable twist.
As
for the ideas you didn’t use, any that are interesting or unique but just didn’t
work for this scene, make note and file them away – they may come in handy
later.
Characterization
Some
of the best and most electrifying Wow Moments are plumbed from multi-dimensional
characters with complex motivations rather than from outside circumstances. Provide
enough detail about your character to set expectations in your readers' mind for
how he will react to certain situations and personalities, then set up your Wow Moment scene in such a way that, in hindsight, it makes perfect sense for your
character to act against type. But beware, you can’t make your character act
against type simply for effect. Your character must have a believable reason
and strong motivation to do so. Moreover, you must also have a story
purpose for this scene, a purpose other than you just wanted to shock the
reader.
Misdirection / Red Herrings
This is an especially useful technique in
mystery stories. This involves more than simply sprinkling in multiple
possibilities for the answer to the mystery or puzzle. To make for a strong Wow
Moment, you need to bury the clues to your big revelation unobtrusively in the
emotions or actions of several previous scenes, ideally in action or dialogue
where some other major focal issue is happening. And the more offhand the
reference is, the better.
Sub Plots
Sub plots can
be used to create or enhance a Wow Moment.
The sub plot
could start off as a low key, minor thread and then suddenly throw an
unexpected spotlight onto the main thread. It could dovetail into the main plot
in an unexpected way that lends new meaning to the entire storyline.
Alternately,
the sub plot can be used to distract the reader from some key element in the
main plot thread, allowing the twist, when it appears, to carry a bigger punch.
Work Backwards
If you know
from the outset what sort of Wow Moment you want to create, then you can work
backwards from that point and figure out just what sort of foreshadowing and
clue planting you need to do.
Believability
Remember, we
want to surprise the reader, but we also want them to buy into the twist. It
needs to make sense in hindsight. If it comes from completely out of the blue
or appears too gimmicky (such as the infamous “it was all just a dream”), the reader will feel cheated and/or insulted.
A good Wow Moment enhances and deepens the storyline, characterization or both.
You accomplish
believability by using foreshadowing. It should be subtle, though, so it doesn’t
broadcast your twist before you get there. As an author, you need to walk that fine line between planting
enough clues to make it obvious in hindsight, but burying it in enough ‘clutter’
so that it becomes almost invisible.
Again, think of
The Sixth Sense. Once you knew the twist, you were able to go back and view the
movie and see that the clues were all there if you’d only known how to read
them.
Story Purpose
Never include a
plot twist just for the sake of having one or to up the drama. Those are never
satisfying to the reader and you run the risk of tipping your story over into
the realm of melodrama or purple prose. Instead, only include them in a way
that flows naturally from your story and characters. The Wow Moment is not
there just to amaze your reader, it should explain and enhance the underlying
meaning of the story itself.
Uniqueness
If your plot
twist relies on clichés, overused story elements or a famous twist employed in the
past, then it won’t create the Wow Moment you are looking for. In fact it can
actually lead to your reader setting the book aside as too predictable and
mundane.
Choose Your POV
If your Wow
Moment involves the reader learning that one of the characters has a big secret
– he’s royalty, she has a twin, he escaped from an asylum, she’s secretly
wealthy – then that issue can’t be touched on even peripherally while in that
character’s POV, otherwise your reader will feel cheated.
In addition,
selecting the right POV can allow for story questions and wrong assumptions when
viewed from that focal point. Again, think of The Sixth Sense. If the story had
been told from either the young boy’s or the wife’s POV the impact would have
been lost – it could only work when told from Malcolm Crowe’s POV.
And here's an extra quote, just for fun :)
There you
have it – my notes on how to craft a Wow Moment for your book.
Readers love to
encounter these Wow Moments, but only when they are executed effectively. Those are the
moments that stay with them long after the story ends, it’s what often makes
them go back and re-read the story, savoring the recognition of the clues now
that they know what it is all leading up to. It’s what can make your books “must
reads” for your fans.
So now it's your turn. Do you have any tips to add to the list? Do you have any favorite Wow Moments from a book or movie? Share and you'll get your name in the hat for winner's choice of any book from my backlist.
