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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/46827
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In my post-apocalyptic novel, there are two "twists", but they're mostly tied up in each other. The first is that humans have developed different kinds of kineses, like hydrokinesis, telekinesis, and so on. The second is that the MC, Eris, has finékinesis, the ability to manipulate death, and she killed innocent people with that power. Eris has blocked out the memories of these events.

Since Eris is my MC and my narrator, the reader discovers alongside her in real time and through her diary entries that she killed people, but I do not explicitly state it until the rest of the characters find out. The characters (other than Eris) are also unaware of Eris' actions, although the antagonist is suspicious. It's pretty clear to the reader, however, from the get-go that Eris has done something bad, and when deaths are mentioned, the reader can easily infer that she was the killer.

What I'm asking is, is a plot twist still a "twist" if my reader knows it? Are plot twists for the reader or for the characters, or both? I don't want to outsmart my reader by making some bizarre plot twist that they never would have guessed and therefore make it unfeasible. But if my readers guess it early, have I "ruined" my twist and/or my plot?

Original score: 25