Am I the only one who thinks writing prompts should stop forcing a 'twist ending' every time?

Honestly I've noticed half the prompts in this sub lately set up a normal situation and then demand a crazy plot twist. Like yesterday someone had a prompt about a librarian finding a secret diary and the whole thing forced it to be about aliens or time travel. Why can't the diary just be about normal drama with real stakes? Tbh I think good writing comes from character depth not some gotcha ending. What side are you on do twists make or break a story?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantw321mo ago

Guilty as charged, I once wrote a prompt about a quiet fishing trip and somehow ended up with a secret government conspiracy in the third paragraph. Twists can be fun but they feel like cheating when every single story relies on one to be interesting. Character depth and real emotion will always beat a plot twist that just exists for shock value.

taylorc401mo agoMost Upvoted

Three out of every five "twist" stories I read have the main character secretly being a robot or a ghost or both, and it's just exhausting. You hit it right, character work makes you care about what happens next, the twist just makes you go "oh, okay I guess" and then you forget the whole thing by lunch.