Twisted Endings

Stories with an ending that ends in a twist. Surprise endings. We all love them. We have all read and written them. They always leave us pleasantly surprised and wanting more.

According to an article on LinkedIn, The Science of Surprise, written by Melissa Hughs, Ph.D:

Neuroscientists have discovered that surprise is one of the most powerful human emotions. As it turns out, the brain’s pleasure center (or the nucleus accumbens) lights up like a Christmas tree when you experience something that you didn’t expect. Not only do you get a nice boost of dopamine, the brain releases noradrenaline – the neurotransmitter responsible for focus and concentration. Think of it as the reset button for the brain. It actually stops all of the other brain activity to let you find meaning in the surprise.

Recent brain-based research shows that novelty or surprise intensifies our emotions by about 400 percent.

Surprise is a powerful emotion that, when “activated", helps heighten our other emotions. The boost of dopamine you receive from the surprise also releases the chemical for focus and concentration.

As writers, we can all use this boost for our creativity. It would greatly help in our process for writing our articles. Any creative person can benefit from a surprise.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Surprise

noun

1 a : an attack made without warning

b : a taking unawares

2 : something that surprises

3 : the feeling caused by something unexpected or unusual

Surprise

verb

1 : to attack unexpectedly

also : to capture by an unexpected attack

2 a : to take unawares

Police surprised the burglars in the store.

b : to detect or elicit by a taking unawares

… sometimes surprised a tragic shadow in her eyes.

—Willa Cather

3 : to strike with wonder or amazement especially because unexpected

His conduct surprised me.

intransitive verb

: to cause astonishment or surprise

1 : to attack unexpectedly

also : to capture by an unexpected attack

2 a : to take unawares

Police surprised the burglars in the store.

b : to detect or elicit by a taking unawares

… sometimes surprised a tragic shadow in her eyes.

—Willa Cather

3 : to strike with wonder or amazement especially because unexpected

His conduct surprised me.

intransitive verb

: to cause astonishment or surprise

So, what I want to see from my fellow writers is some stories with an ending that ends with a twist. I would like to see Vocal flooded with these stories. I want to be so surprised by the endings that the dopamine gets to flow, activating my noradrenaline to attack my brain. I want to be overflowed with emotion.

The stories need to be posted anywhere under the fiction community. They need to be at least 500 words long. The stories must be completed and submitted by September 29, 2023. I will announce up to 3 winners on October 3, 2023. All entries will be given a shout-out This prompt is just for fun. Please include the Challenge name somewhere in your article, either in the subtitle, the heading, or as a footnote.

I look forward to seeing everyone’s stories. I hope we see several more Top Stories out of this challenge like we did with the Campfire Challenge Entries.

Below are two short stories of mine written within the last week that end with a twist that may inspire you to get started on your stories.

J.S. Wade's story The Moxie's is a great story with a twist at the end that would be great to check out for inspiration.

Dharrsheena Raja Segarran short story The Horrifying Moniker, is a great story with a surprise ending that you may want to checkout.

If you need more inspiration, you can always check out the Fiction section on Vocal. There are many inspiring creators on Vocal.