Day 459: Crazy Plot Twists Pt. 3

Alright, so today I'm going to try my best to plot out a crazy twist ending that'll knock your socks off. It might be a bit of a struggle, but I think I can do it now that I'm prepared. Yesterday I laid out a few requirements that I'll want to fulfill in the hopes of generating a strong twist:

1. A solid concept that lends itself to a twist.
2. A protagonist with a limited perspective.
3. An antagonist with an air of mystery.

I'm going to try not to rely on any existing plot twists that I've thought up in the past because I want a new one to work with. As far as concepts go, I think I'm best off using something I've spent some time thinking about already, and in fact, I have one in mind. There is one other thing I need to decide. Do I want this to be a character-centric twist ending as in 'The Prisoner of Azkaban,' or a more conceptual twist as in 'Prey?' Will the big reveal be about a specific character, or the nature of the story itself? I think I'll end up deciding once I've gotten more invested in the story. Should be fun!

The concept I've been lingering on is pure sci-fi, and something I've wanted to write about for a long time. Some time in the distant future, when humans have inhabited the galaxy, interstellar shipping is one of the largest and most complex industries to have ever existed. Getting stuff from one place to another is more difficult than ever, and the challenges faced by ship captains, logisticians, and business owners on a daily basis are immense.

This is pretty vague as far as concepts go, but that's ok. There's a lot to expand on. A premise could stem from anywhere along the shipping line, from where stuff is produced, to the docks where they load the stuff, the ships that carry them, the people expecting the goods, the people who own the lines, anywhere really. All I have to do is find the juiciest starting point.

To find it, I'll have to rely on my other two requirements. First up, a protagonist with a limited perspective. Initially I thought this might preclude a more centrally located protagonist like a shipping magnate, or logistician who charts the lanes, but actually I think this could be perfect. They'd have access to a lot of high-level information, but what actually goes on on the ships and the docks would be hidden information. This lends itself to a twist because the character would be trying to deduce the truth of the situation from clues offered by sensors, maps, logs, messages, etc. Lurking beneath the more obvious conclusions that the reader would make based on the protagonists experiences would be the twist that shows itself at the end. I'm thinking the natural conclusion would be when the missing ship finally shows up at the docks, or something like that. But let's explore some other options first.

Captain of a shipping vessel might work too. The limited information would be on the opposite end, where the captain might be getting vague orders from up high that aren't making much sense, but they would have a lot information about the ship and the crew. They'd have to piece together where they were going and what they were doing from clues, which would again hide the twist within.

Maybe a captain has too much information though. What if the protagonist were, say, a cabin boy? Someone with such a limited perspective that they can only draw conclusions based on what they can see with their own two eyes.

What about a multi-perspective? A cabin boy and the captain, or the logistician and the business owner, or all of them at once? Well, it gets a lot more complicated that way, and this is mostly just an exercise for the blog. Plus I'd like to keep this shorter than longer if I do end up writing it. Preferably under 5000 words. So multiple perspectives are pretty much out of the question, at least with my level of expertise.

After some thinking, I think the best place to start would be somewhere in the middle. Not too high up, but not too far down either. How about the first mate? The first mate has access to a lot of information (or at least, they should), but ultimately the captain can hide whatever they want. This answers one of the big requirements for me by providing an obvious, and juicy antagonist: the captain.

Alright, so I've got a concept, a protagonist or perspective character, and an idea for an antagonist too. What is it that's happening though? Where's the inciting event? For this, I'll need to craft a premise. I have one big idea that sticks out in my mind immediately. I could spend time trying to come up with something else, but instinct tells me I won't get much better than this:

When the first mate of private shipping vessel discovers something strange in the hold that's not on the registry, they decide to confront their captain about the unmarked cargo.

I think that's about all I need to get started. Now I can plot the rest, scene by scene.

1. The first mate discovers some strange cargo in the hold during a long-haul flight and decides to bring the issue to the captain.
2. Confronting the cagey captain only stokes the first mate's interest. The captain has never lied about anything before, but is clearly hiding something now. (Opportunities for backstory in this scene.) The captain warns the first mate not to go near the strange cargo.
3. The captain continues to act strangely, but the first mate is torn on whether they should pursue the issue. The captain has never acted like this before (possible flashback?). Ultimately the first mate decides to trust the captain since they've known each other so long ... right up until the captain suddenly changes course without telling anybody why. Worse yet, they're now heading straight for a planet that is illegal to land on, cordoned off by the military.
4. The first mate does some digging by asking around the crew, trolling through ship logs, and trying to go up the chain of the shipping company to figure out what on Earth it is they're transporting, all to little avail. (Opportunity to introduce side characters and flesh out the world.) The captain continues to act strangely.
5. After discovering that the first mate has been digging around, the captain moves against the first mate with a reprimand, threats, or possibly confinement.
6. The first mate is forced to consider whether or not it is wise to continue defying the captain.
7. One of the crew (formerly introduced side character) brings the first mate a big clue about what is going on. The strange cargo is an illegal shipment that seems to have originated from the planet the captain has set course for. They're returning something to the planet, which is rumored to be full of dangerous aliens, and if the first mate doesn't do something immediately, they're all going to be in deep.
8. The first mate decides that it's impossible to abandon the quest now. Something must be done about the captain.
9. The crew rallies around the first mate, but when they go to investigate the strange cargo, it's nowhere to be found.
10. They confront the captain, who is now barricaded on the bridge and won't let anybody in. They can see through the cameras that the strange cargo is on the bridge too.
11. The first mate tries to reason with the captain by bringing up their shared past, arguing that what the captain is doing goes against their nature. The captain doesn't budge. (Need to explain the captain's motivation, even if it won't make sense until the twist.)
12. The crew is forced to break down the door and arrest the (insane) captain. The captain turns to violence and is ultimately killed in the ensuing battle. The first mate is heartbroken and confused, but has little time to recover because ...
13. They've reached the no fly zone surrounding the planet the captain plotted a course to. Military ships are threatening to destroy the ship if they don't stop. They're forced to divert course and surrender.
14. The military begins arresting everyone, but the first mate decides to find out what it was inside the strange cargo that drove the captain insane. It opens up to ...
15. THE CAPTAIN! Upon a closer look, the other captain is clearly inhuman beneath the skin. The captain's strange behavior all makes sense now, especially the reasons behind going to the illegal planet in the first place. The military still arrests everyone, and the captain's secret illicit shipping is revealed, but at least everyone is alive.

Dun dun dun! I'm not really sure if this works too well right now though. Its difficult to analyze a twist when you're the one who came up with it, especially a first pass. It could be that this one falls really flat, or needs serious modification to work. Tomorrow I'll go back over it and see if it still works for me in the morning. It's amazing what some sleep will do for your perspective.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley