Q&A for How to Write a Story Full of Plot Twists

Don't do it suddenly. A realistic change of heart will occur gradually (or at least feature some foreshadowing along the way). A sudden change might seem to the reader too contrived or convenient.

You run the risk of badly disappointing your reader, especially if you've done a good job of making the character likable/lovable. The loss of the main character also drastically changes the focus of your story, which can be a real challenge for the author in terms of maintaining the reader's interest and enjoyment. It's almost as if you have to write two stories instead of one.

They say two heads are better than one: if you can't think of any good ideas, ask a friend or family member for help. Sometimes someone else's ideas will stimulate your own.

Even without a main villain, the interest and challenge will still come from the struggles that the characters face. What kind of hurdles are you throwing their way? What kind of obstacles do they have to overcome? Tension is the key to an interesting plotline, so keep in mind what the stakes in your story are. Think of what will happen if the characters fail, and make sure that the audience knows it.

Introduce them one by one, or if that takes too long, groups of 2 or 3. Suddenly landing in 10 new cultists won't do much good for you.

Agatha Christie, Louise Penny, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, and Margery Allingham are good places to start.

Some examples of a "lying narrator" - more commonly know as an unreliable narrator - is Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye, Nick in the Great Gatsby. For more examples, do an online search for "unreliable narrator" to find more examples of this.

A twist is meant to be unexpected. I don't know what you mean by repeating a twist, but I would say no because the readers will expect it if you've used it before.

Is she fighting him? If so, during the fight when she starts losing, he tells her to give up and if so, he’ll give her information about her past or he’ll just tell her then and there. You could also have a scene where he says something like “You're fighting for something you don’t even understand” and he tells her something shocking about her past and it escalates from there.