Last Updated on August 19, 2024
Mystery is one of my favorite genres. It’s hard to hate when everything is so formulaic! (Side Note: Reading this post after getting an adult autism diagnosis is hilarious.) The initial findings, a seemingly good answer, a few plot twists, and a resolution. What can go wrong?
Despite it being my favorite to read, it can be very hard to write. A good mystery novel needs suspense, juicy plot twists ideas, and well…mystery. All of these elements are crucial, but checking them off your list when you are suffering from writer’s block is a real pain.
Below, I go over 5 classic plot twists in a mystery that you can throw into your story to create some spice! They’ve been done many times before because they work!
Table of Contents
Kill Someone Off
This is a classic, so we might as well cover it first. A quick way to hook your reader back into your story is to have a tragedy take place. If you are battling writer’s block, or a boring middle in your story, it may be worth your time to kill off an important side character to add depth and urgency to the situation.
If you are writing a classic detective story, you can add in the death of an important civilian. Maybe someone who was close to the case…or close to the murderer?! (Dun, dun, dunnn)
These plot twist ideas are especially great when your detective lead is following the wrong trail in the case!
However, you could use this trick for any genre. Whether it’s mystery, romance, or sci-fi, a character’s death is an effective (and mean!) way to get your audience more emotionally invested in the plot.
Surprise Visitor
What better way to draw the reader back in than to surprise them (and the protagonist) with an old face? Someone they thought was gone forever?
It’s important to note that, in order for this to work, the surprise visitor should be important to the main character in some way. The more important they are, the better!
No one wants to read a random chapter of the protagonist suddenly having lunch with their childhood neighbor (especially if said neighbor won’t help them solve the mystery).
Something that I’ve seen a few times is the resurrection of a character that we thought was dead and gone. Now, I’m not telling you to revive someone a Supernatural amount of times. Still, one surprise resurrection—or someone just faking their death—can be an engaging plot twist for a book that seems to be stalling.
Some easy plot twist ideas of people worth resurrecting include:
- the villain/murderer, even though the main character thinks that they’ve already vanquished them (think Voldemort from Harry Potter)
- a long lost or estranged family member that the main character has missed or couldn’t find
- a fugitive that went missing [x amount] of years ago
- a ghost or memory that visits the main character in a dream (if you’re okay with taking a more paranormal approach)
Flashback Interlude
Often times when I’m writing a novel, I’ll create the backstory first. This background is usually a rough draft of my spur-of-the-moment plot twist ideas. I’ll workshop them until they make a complete picture that I can then base my project on.
A good mystery story thrives on the reader and protagonist being left partially in the dark.
Can you give them a glimpse into the truth? Maybe insert a chapter from someone else’s perspective that reveals and explains some key details in the story.
A good example of this was Paula Hawkins’ The Girl On The Train. The story revolves around 3 women, one of which is the victim, and each chapter changes perspective. The protagonist, Rachel, is an alcoholic who often blacks out, making her an unreliable witness. As you read it, you learn more and more about each character, their agendas, and eventually the whole truth behind the night that Megan disappeared.
Another story that excelled at this was A Winter’s Promise by French author, Christelle Dabos. This technically is a fantasy novel with a mysterious twist! Really well done, and again, incorporates scenes from a different, past perspective to shed light on the current tension in the book.
As long as you make the flashback relevant and important to the main story, you really can’t go wrong!
Scapegoat Farm
Any good mystery needs to be solved, otherwise it’s just a confusing book! Assuming that your main character is working to solve the case, it can be helpful to throw in a scapegoat for the sake of adding intrigue.
A scapegoat is a person who’s wrongfully blamed for the wrongdoings or crimes of others. First, determine what the main crime of your novel is. Was there a murder in your town? Embezzlement from one of the largest corporations? Or maybe, someone or something important has disappeared without a trace?
Your scapegoat will be blamed for the big crime, but they won’t actually be guilty of it. This is a fantastic and classic smokescreen to use in your mystery writing because it teases the audience. Everyone thinks they now have the solution to the Big Problem, but in reality, it’s just a detour away from the main goal.
But what do I mean by ‘detour’? When I think of storytelling, I often envision a forest in my mind. When I start a story, I’m standing at the edge of that wilderness getting ready to hike through it. The ending is many miles away, but I have a path of different plot points that I must walk through in order to get there.
Your scapegoat in this analogy, should still be a part of your path to the ending. They’re just a detour. Don’t make this plot twist into a dead end that takes you nowhere further in the story! If you do, you’ll create a plot hole and your reader will be confused as to why you included it in the first place.
1, 2, 3, Action!
Lastly, after all that suspense, it will be extremely satisfying for the tense bubble to burst. After building up all that tension, throw your characters into a situation that demands immediate action.
Perhaps it’s a shoot-out with the perpetrator, or a conversation the protagonist has been anticipating or avoiding. It could be finally solving a huge piece of the mystery and rushing to tell their partner the news.
Whatever you choose, make sure that your plot twist ideas are moving the characters toward the ultimate goal: solving the mystery.
Again, random detours and smokescreens can be fun in the first half of your book, but used too many times and the reader will think you know just as much about your book as they do—which is nothing.
(Note: If you are writing from the perspective of someone who’s out of their depth, this can be useful, but you should still do this in moderation.)
By throwing in an action scene, you’ll change the pace of the story and events. Naturally, your readers will start reading faster as they get lost in the fast-moving scenes.
This can really help with their engagement level, and both parties can make it through the “Monotonous Middle” without falling asleep.
In Conclusion
I personally don’t believe in writer’s block; only in ideas that need to be workshopped. Still, this is easier said than done. I hope you can push past your own feelings of writer’s block with these reliable and classic plot twist ideas!
If you ever are fighting to move past this phase, just look at what some of the pros have done. It might not be the most original idea, but just because it’s been done before, doesn’t mean that it’s no longer wanted!
Do you want to see more listed options for plot twist ideas? Let me know or check out my post on using ChatGPT for blogging.
Do you have your own process for moving past writer’s block when writing a mystery novel? Leave a comment down below to let me know, and follow me on Pinterest for more!
