I wanted to start this blog off with something very close to my writer's heart (if we have one: look at how many people we try to kill off, after all), and that thing is plot twists.

I've made it a personal mission to have at least one in every piece of fictional writing I draft: yes, even the 100 word drabbles. I want to teach the reader to expect the unexpected, keep them on their toes, and hopefully shock them once in a while. Admittedly, it sets the bar high when your readers are anticipating a twist, but what would be the twist to that? Not have one at all? Unexpected, sure, but not interesting enough to execute.

With a small number of exceptions, I don't start writing a story until I have the plot twist locked down. Setting, general storyline and twist: once I've determined those, I'm good to go. The characters write themselves, and the story often changes, but the twist is my static destination. Note that twists don't have to be the focal point of the story: this is often employed to great effect, but is not necessary, as twists can also be nice side pieces, a subtle jarring for the reader who was speeding through your writing thinking themselves across the story and then bam, you go and throw a spanner in the works.

So here's the part you impatiently scanned through this post to find: how to write the plot twists. "I'm not creative!" you cry. "Everything's already been done!" you wail. "Just give me a twist to write, K.B." you cajole, with copious offerings of chocolate as a bribe. (Hint: the last one would work).

If the plot twist hasn't jumped out at you, then I find that a surefire way to invent one is by going back to the facts of your story. What are the absolutes, the truth, the guaranteed knowns?

And once you have those, turn them on their head.

Let's work through an example. You're writing a police procedural with some amazingly clever title that took you three months to think of, and are now floundering about a clever twist to add in three quarters of the way through the book. So what are the facts? Your main character is a 55 year old female police detective who solves the clues left by the criminal and rescues the kidnapped victim.

Let's break that down. We have age. Gender. Job title. Actions. Outcome.

How can we turn these established facts into plot twists?

The main character is 55 years old.

We've established this as a fact, and our readers are now relying on this as a certainty. So what if she wasn't? What if it is revealed that the events of the book took place 30 years ago when our character was a rookie police officer, and the older version of herself is recalling what happened as a copycat criminal has now struck again? What if the flashback to her younger years is important for solving the current case?

What if she's been working both cases at once, past and present, and that's why the reader was so confused when her partners seemed to change, and why no one batted an eyelid when they beat up that suspect in chapter 5!

Alternatively, what if the character has been telling others that she is 55 years old, but she is actually immortal? This would only work for a sci-fi or fantasy book, but could be employed to great effect when it is revealed that she was one of the criminal's first victims decades ago, or that she's actually the criminal's father! (Considering her age, that might be a good plot twist for a non-immortal character as well).

The main character is female.

Is she really? I've used it once (not telling you which of my stories), but gender is a twist that only works in certain situations. Say this was a typical police procedural and you revealed that your main character had had a sex change a few years back. The reader might raise an eyebrow, then shrug...and carry on reading. You've not really shaken their world: you've just added in a depth of character that might appear unimportant if it is not connected to anything.

But say you set your novel in a dystopian world where men are rare, and are kept in secure medical facilities to be used as breeders (urgh, I know). Then, the revelation that our character is male pretending to be female takes on a heavy meaning and makes it a secret that if exposed, could jeopardise his freedom...

The main character is a police detective.

What if she's not? What if she's impersonating one, or is part of the criminal underworld? What if she was suspended from the force just before the story started, revealed through a flashback late in the book? That's why the forensics team were so rude to her! That's why she snuck into her office so late at night! She's a suspended cop out for personal revenge or trying to clear her name!

The main character solves the clues left by the criminal and rescues the kidnapped victim.

I think you've got the picture now. What if she was in on the kidnapping the whole time? Or what if she figured it out, rescued the victim off-page, and has spent the novel playing along to catch the perpetrator?

Think on it. Your twist doesn't have to be the first thing you come up with: but it does need to make sense in the context of the book, not be too obvious, and actually affect the reader's perception of the story in some way.

Make them question themselves. Make them reread. Most importantly, make them think about you when they're lying awake in bed trying desperately to sleep.

Because you can be that author, the one we love and wish to strangle at the same time.