Writing a Warriors Fanfiction: The Complete Guide

Plot Twists!

Everyone likes a good ol' plot twist. They throw the reader off track. Maybe there are hints, but it's generally unexpected. Plot twists are especially good when following a cliché storyline. You can even distract the reader by adding hints that point away from the plot twist, which are called red herrings. *However, be careful with how obvious your red herrings are. If you try too hard to distract the reader, they will realize the trick.

An example of a plot twist could be the deputy being randomly killed in the story, and no one knows who it could be. One of the warriors is a very influential cat and definitely has ambitions to be leader, so it seems that it's that cat... until - plot twist! - it was the leader who killed the deputy.

This is good, but everyone knows of the "the ambitious warrior killed the deputy so they could be leader" cliché and it's been so overused; it's clear you have something up your sleeve when you make so much evidence point to that warrior. While they would've never guessed it would be the leader, people would be able to tell that it's not the ambitious warrior. More layers of red herrings will help.

Let's change the example: Now, the Clan starts to suspect the ambitious, influential warrior, but the main character thinks it's someone else who's been acting a little sketchy. Another warrior has had very little to comment on even though the deputy was their mentor. Whenever someone talks to them about the deputy, they talk about how it's definitely the ambitious warrior. But, in a plot twist, it was actually the leader who killed the deputy. The sketchy cat was actually just very shocked from the deputy's death, and wanted to immediately find someone to place the blame on.

*Also beware of having evidence that points away from the twist having no reason to exist in-universe. Notice how we found out why the cat was actually being sketchy in our example. Just having him act up just to distract the reader is not a good idea.

Congratulations! You just got through one of the most difficult parts! In the next step, we will really be able to develop the characters that go in this plot you've made.