Tag Archive for 'twist in the tail'

Online writing tips statistics suggested an interest in how to write a Christmas story and stories with a twist in the tale (twist in the tail)

Published on December 13, 2008 in Christmas, Writing and online writing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .
Keywords for today suggest an interest in Christmas story writing and twists in the tale

Keywords for today suggest an interest in Christmas story writing and twists in the tale

In my article yesterday about online writing tips, I discussed the importance of keeping an eye on the keywords people are using to find your online writings.

Recently, I’ve noticed that a number of people have come to this site looking for Christmas story related information so I thought I would mention the short Christmas story that I wrote recently. It demonstrates both a twist in the tale (twist in the tail) and the idea that it is good for an author to write about matters of current interest to the reader.

All of us have common interests. The most powerful, constantly exploited by the advertising industry, is the relationship between men and women. However, there are many other themes that, at any particular time, will generally attract our interest.

Obviously a major theme currently is the economy, the Credit Crunch and the recession that seems to be growing worse daily.

Another theme high on many of our agendas is the environment, worry about climate change, recycling and green issues in general which is the theme of my latest Xmas story.

My Christmas story for Christmas 2008 is a flash fiction called Green Car for Christmas. It is a modest effort but seeks to attract interest by focusing on an actual event which happened when I was walking through town and saw a car draw away soundlessly – an example of using real life events to stimulate fiction. It then rounds off with a change of direction or a twist in the tale which has a Christmas flavour.

This Xmas short story has links to other Xmas stories I have written in previous years which you might find of interest.

My previous article Writing tips – how to write stories with a twist in the tale might also be helpful :-)

More online writing tips soon.

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online writer

Writing tips – how to write stories with a twist in the tale by Rob Hopcott

Published on November 10, 2008 in Writing and writing tips. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

One of my top writing tips is about how to make the writing of stories with a twist in the tale easier. A twist in the tail of your story is one of the best ways of making it satisfying for the reader.

Quite simply, a twist in the tale means that the readers assumptions  up to that point (the tail end of the story) are incorrect. It is not a question of the reader being wrong, it is rather that a natural belief based on the reader’s prejudices or reader’s conventional wisdom’s have led to one point of view which then needs to be revised substantially to an altered viewpoint at the end of the story.

In my flash fiction story My Perfect Lover, we hear about how ideal a lover is and we make assumptions which we then have to change completely in the last line – the twist in the tale.

Here’s the killer writing tip for writing a story with a twist in the tale.

Write it backwards, That’s it. Simple really!

Start by thinking up a number of misconception situations. Here are several examples.

  1. The man is in fact a woman
  2. The woman is a man
  3. The narrator isn’t a human but is instead an animal or an inanimate object like a car
  4. The time isn’t today but, say, in the Stone Age or 18th century

Keep thinking up misconceptions until you come across one you like and then write your story. The story will end with a sentence that clears up the misconception but, until that point, the story must muddy the issue or, better still, imply the view or misconception that you wish the reader to assume until the last line.

How to put a twist in the tale is one of my top writing tips. I hope you get a lot of enjoyment from it :-)

Bye for now

Rob

Rob Hopcott – online author