How to Write a Plot Twist Readers Never See Coming
October 2, 2026
A good plot twist is a surprise the reader could have seen coming and didn't. How to plant small hints, misdirect, avoid the twists that fail, and test yours with beta readers.
Tag: Mystery
Mystery and crime writing across the subgenres, from cozy to procedural to comic, and what each one demands of plot, pace, and research.
1970sThe Pyx (1973) Review
September 11, 2026
The Pyx (1973) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A Canadian film in which a woman falls from a Montreal balcony and the investigation runs backward through her last days, intercut, with Karen Black singing her own…
2020sAmsterdam (2022) Review
September 11, 2026
Amsterdam (2022) rates 4 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. David O. Russell assembled one of the largest casts of the decade to tell a true story about a 1933 plot against the American government, and buried it under…
2000sThe Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003) Review
September 10, 2026
The Matrix sequels rate 5 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Shot back to back and released six months apart, they answer questions the first film was stronger for leaving open, and they contain two of the best action…
1970sKlute (1971) Review
September 10, 2026
Klute (1971) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. The film is called Klute and it is not about Klute. Jane Fonda won the Academy Award for a performance built out of therapy sessions and a tape recorder,…
2010sGone Girl (2014) Review
September 10, 2026
Gone Girl (2014) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Gillian Flynn adapted her own novel and took a hammer to her own third act. Fincher shot it entirely in one small Missouri town for sixty-one million dollars,…
1970sDeath on the Nile (1978) Review
September 10, 2026
Death on the Nile (1978) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Christie on a paddle steamer with a closed passenger list and a cast of stars. The correct way to film a detective novel, and the only…
1960sL’Avventura (1960) Review
September 10, 2026
L'Avventura (1960) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A woman vanishes on a yacht trip and the film loses interest in finding her. Jeered at Cannes, given a jury prize by the same festival, and on best-of…
2020sGlass Onion (2022) Review
September 10, 2026
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A tech billionaire's private island weekend where the solution is that the clever man has nothing inside. Better as satire than as a puzzle.
Character DevelopmentArthur Conan Doyle Day: The Detective He Resented
September 9, 2026
Conan Doyle built the detective story into its permanent shape, killed his own creation because he resented him, was forced by public pressure to bring him back, and spent his later years defending claims his detective would have dismantled in…
MysteryBehind the Book: Unlikely Hero
August 17, 2026
Unlikely Hero started with a single image, a nuclear bomb near Los Angeles, and became a two-character story about a criminal, a cop, and one impossible choice. Here is how it was built.
Crime FictionMystery Writer’s Handbook
August 14, 2026
Readers come to mystery for justice, not merely the puzzle. In a world that feels unjust, a mystery delivers a problem solved through skill and persistence and