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Q&A When to finally reveal plot twist to characters?

In a post-apocalyptic novel I'm writing (which is the subject of many questions I've asked on Writing.SE), I recently cut out my entire Chapter 10-11. I was revealing the MC, Eris' finékinesis (de...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by weakdna says reinstate monica‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T12:27:05Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/46603
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar weakdna says reinstate monica‭ · 2019-12-08T12:27:05Z (over 4 years ago)
In a post-apocalyptic novel I'm writing (which is the subject of many questions I've asked on Writing.SE), I recently cut out my entire Chapter 10-11. I was revealing the MC, Eris' finékinesis (death-force manipulation) to her love interest, Caspian, and her accidental killing of his mother and her own family, but in the middle of writing it, I realized that it was probably too soon, realistically, for Eris to reveal a part of her past that she'd blocked out after knowing Caspian for roughly a week.

At this point in the story, however, Eris' own actions are becoming more obvious to her, and my beta readers also understand that Eris is the one who killed both Caspian's mom and Eris' family. I just don't think it's the right time to reveal this to the _characters_, and I'm faltering a bit on identifying when _is_ a good time.

If this helps, according to an [eight-point story arc](https://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-structure-a-story-the-eight-point-arc/), I think my story is moving from the _quest_ stage to the _surprise_ stage.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-07-13T20:31:14Z (almost 5 years ago)
Original score: 6