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Plot Twists in Short Fiction

06 Aug

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A panel topic at this year’s 4th Street Fantasy convention dealt with using Fake outs, False Fumbles,and Misdirection to spice up standard plot tropes. It was a lively discussion as you might expect. The part of the discussion that interested me the most was the Set-up. Those sentences, paragraphs, and even whole scenes that are used to purposefully send the reader down a dead-end or straight into the surprise plot fake out. The Set-up is the clue(s) the author provides the reader that the plot trope they know and love may get thrown for a loop later in the story. Usually, the clues go unnoticed at first as just lightly related information used as world-building or characterization. The number of Set-ups can vary from story to story but as a rule there should be at least three: one towards the beginning, another somewhere in the middle, and then a last one just before the big surprise ending.

During the panel discussion, a comment was made that this is a little harder to handle in short fiction. The clues would be included in at most a “throw away” sentence or two. Frankly, what shocked me more was that the accomplished short fiction writers in the audience did not jump up and scream at the top of their lungs at this comment. Since when is there “throw away” sentences in a 3,000 word short story?

As I stated previously, the initial clue(s) may go unnoticed. But, can they really in a short work? Can you afford to insert a “throw away” line. just to set up a plot twist later? It seems to me that those “throw away” lines are nearly as important and require at least as much consideration as your opening line. These sentences need to fulfill at least two and maybe three or four purposes. One of which is to give the clue that the reader needs to remember, on some level, so that the surprise ending doesn’t seem contrived. Also, keep in mind that the clue should not be too obvious that it jolts the reader out of the story.

So, I would like to hear from you short fiction writers. How do you handle Set-ups in your short works? Or, do you stick with the tried and true plot tropes?

 

 
4 Comments

Posted by on August 6, 2015 in Thoughts on Writing

 

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Back Stories

17 Apr

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A few weeks ago I read a post that really caught my imagination. It was Matt Wright’s post on Tolkien’s published appendices. The question that came to mind is how can the volumes of back story that we create for each character, plot, location, and obstacle be used other than to help write the story? A sizable portion of Tolkien’s world and back stories were published after his main books and were gobbled up enthusiastically by his fans. As Matt points out, the e-book industry is perfect for this type of follow-up publication and many of the author’s I follow have used it to good effect.

I got my start writing by creating back stories for my friend’s RPG characters. So, generating back story is something that I spend a fair amount of time thinking about. I found that creating a character study using free-writing is not only is fun, but it produces characters with interesting and unforeseen motivations, likes and dislikes. Back story written as short-shorts or even a short story can be a nice change of pace from your main WIP. Also, it can help a writer through a plot or character block.

So, this ‘extra’ writing  brings up a few questions, “Can back story be used to promote a book that has yet to be published? Can it be used to help create an audience for an upcoming book release? Can it be used for story promotion without damaging the story to come? If written with the intent to promote a longer upcoming piece, what is the best vehicle to introduce it to potential new readers? Would posting it on a blog provide as much exposure as e-publication? If the back story is a short-short, does it even make sense to try to e-publish it?

Honestly I’m split on this topic. Whereas, introducing readers to a short piece to lure them in may sound like a good idea, it would have to be written so that the writer did not give away too much of the character for the main story to follow. Also, short pieces are harder to write from a world-building/explanation stand point. The writer has less room for exposition.

The flip side is that a short piece might be enough candy to lure the reader into a relationship with your characters. The writer needs to be aware that new fans won’t wait very long for the longer piece to be released. So, unless the goal is to release numerous shorts before the main book is released, timing of the back story release would be critical.

What do you think? Do you have back stories you could use to promote your WIP? Would you ever publish back story to promote your WIP or do you think it best to wait and see if the WIP is well received?

 
8 Comments

Posted by on April 17, 2014 in Thoughts on Writing

 

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