The Twister Sister Called Misdirection

In one of my favorite teen movies of all time, 10 Things I Hate About You, Kat Stratford wants to help Patrick Verona out of detention. He’d been so sweet singing to her over the football field’s sound system. So to draw the coach’s attention away from an open window in the classroom, she begins to ramble on about using misdirection to win the next girls’ soccer game. The coach asks her how they would get the opposing team to look away from the ball. As Patrick makes his way toward the window and she’s certain he’s about to be caught, she grabs the coach’s attention by saying, “like this” and lifts her shirt. Thankfully, we only see her red face and the coach’s shocked one, but she used exactly what she was talking about, misdirection, for Patrick to escape. Too funny. I never expected that!

Don’t you love it when a book is moving along and it suddenly catches you off guard with a great twist? The type that you think, “Oh, I never saw that coming, but I love it!”

When my daughters were younger, they would get so frustrated during movies because I would say, “Oh, he’s the killer,” or “They’ll save her now,” and I’d be right. They often thought I had seen the movie before, instead I would tell them I’m a good guesser. I never had the heart to tell them how most movies are so predictable.

By the way, I did NOT figure out the truth about Bruce Willis’s character in Sixth Sense until I reached the end. Love that movie for that very reason.
Being a lover of twists (not twisted lover, uh, that’s a totally different post best saved for my own blog), I have a blast placing them in my writing. Whenever I feel a little bored with the story I’m writing, I stop and think, what would happen if the hero or heroine did this or the bad guy/gal did that? What would happen if this turned out to be a lie or someone so sweet and well-loved is the psycho? Once I decide the twist is needed at that point, I’ll go back and drop hints, tie up loose ends so it will all make sense. Often I don’t even have to do that as if subconsciously I was working toward that anyway.

So tell me about a book you’ve read or movie you’ve seen that had a great twist and surprised you in a good way?

Be sure to comment, as one lucky winner will receive their choice of Circle of Desire or Circle of Danger from my erotic romantic suspense series. I promise a lot of twists and surprises.
You can find Carla Swafford at
www.carlaswafford.com
www.carlaswafford.blogspot.com
www.romancemagicians.blogspot.com
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Carla Swafford lives in Alabama and is married to her high school sweetheart. A third generation storyteller, she loves every shade of romance and the many paths taken to find that special someone.