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Nikita Costiuc's avatar

Saving this quote: "If your plot twist feels like a gift from the gods, make sure you’ve invited the gods to the party from page one."

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Tim Wright's avatar

Alfred Bester talked about something he called a gimmick, his name for a plot device, something that initially looks unobtrusive, but later turns out to be key to the story, often functioning as a gotcha in a surprise ending. The gimmick always related to character and connected to plot, sort of a trademark in his short fiction. All of this is detailed in an essay in one of his anthologies and has stayed with me all those years.

He used interesting facts, like the years when silver dollars weren't minted to hint that the given time and date was wrong, and in one short story the protagonist, over his wife's objections, takes career advice from a stranger, who pays for their dinner. The waiter brings back the stranger's $100 bill, counterfeit because its issue date is 15 years in the future. On the banknote the protagonist sees his signature for Secretary of the Treasury.

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