Is Your Book Too Predictable? Agent Allegra Martschenko on Turning Obstacles Into Twists

A ton of things happen by page 50. There are storms, setbacks and close calls.

So why does the story still feel like it’s heading exactly where readers expect?

In this episode, literary agent Allegra Martschenko (BookEnds Literary Agency) shares something all too common in their query inbox and their clients’ fiction: events that are treated as obstacles when they could be plot twists.

An obstacle slows your characters down on the path you’ve promised the reader.

A twist knocks them off that path entirely, or changes what they wanted in the first place.

Using one very muddy hill (and a Jack and Jill you haven’t met before), Allegra shows how the same storm can be a speed bump, a forced-proximity romance, or a betrayal that turns the second half of the book into a revenge story. And because twists shouldn’t feel random, they offer three ways to make sure your twists are earned: through your character, your theme and your world.

What you’ll learn:

******The difference between an obstacle and a plot twist (and why both have their place)

******A simple test: after this event, are your characters still on the same trajectory?

******How one scenario can branch into a romance, a rescue or a betrayal

******Why twists can happen anywhere in your story, as long as they have a purpose

******Three lenses for earning a twist: character motivation, theme and world-building