Putting Chubby Checker in Your Story

Okay, I know it’s physically impossible for me to do it now without doing damage to my body (and the eyesight of people viewing me), but I used to do a mean Twist. Baby Boomers remember the dance that threw your body into a human spiral pasta.

Nathan Fillion as mystery writer Richard Castle

I was reminded of the Twist in an episode of ABC’s new show CASTLE. It was just a matter of time before I thought of a way to blog about this show. It stars Nathan Fillion, late of the ill-fated FIREFLY series, the movie WAITRESS, last season’s hero in DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, and the DR. HORRIBLE online show. I LOVE Nathan Fillion–he twinkles, to me, the way James Garner did in his younger years. (If you love Jimmy, you know what I mean.)

Anyhow, back to the Twist. Fillion’s character is a best-selling author who shadows the NYPD homicide detectives as he gets inspiration for the new lead character in his murder mystery series. He plays cards with James Patterson and Stephen Cannell in the first episode and is distracted by the case the police think they have solved. As Richard Castle recounts the details of supposedly solved murders as if they were part of the plot of a book, Patterson and Cannell ask, “Is that it? Where’s the twist? There’s no twist.” Applying the principles of story-telling to police work, Castle realizes that the murders have all been solved too easily and that there must be a twist. (Take a peek at the superstar writers’ game here.)

All of this is to say (besides saying to watch CASTLE on Mondays on ABC), remember to put the twist in your story–the surprise or truth that the reader isn’t expecting. If your story goes in a straight line, it’s going to be boring and abandoned by the reader. But your twist has to be believable and logical in the framework of your plot. To read a bit on how to decide on a twist for your story, read James Bell Scott’s PLOT & STRUCTURE, pp 106-107.

In the meantime, just write CHUBBY CHECKER on a piece of paper or print out his picture and hang it in your work space. It will be a visual reminder to make your story interesting and memorable!