Side Track: Plot Techniques

Plot Twist - This device refers to an unexpected turn of events in a story. An example would be Psycho.

Psycho is an american psychological thriller-horror based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. Basically, there's a mother and son running a motel,  Bates Motel. Things were going normal until a phoenix secretary Marion Crane, on the lam after stealing $40,000 from her employer, stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel and meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates. After Norman fixes her a light dinner, Marion goes back to her room for a shower... THEN a female figure comes out of nowhere while she was in the shower and stabs her to death with a butcher knife. Norman appears after the attacker fled and cleaned up the mess. After that Marion's sister found out about the place and set out an investigation. The detective went to the place and as he reached the top of the stairs, a figure suddenly appears and kills him.

PLOT TWIST - When they didn't hear from the detective, they went to the house and found that Norman's mother has been dead for 10 years. They figured out the it was Norman Bates dressed as his mother that killed Marion.

Red Herring- This device refers to details that mislead the audience such that they follow the wrong track. An example would be the Da Vinci Code.

The character "Bishop Aringarosa" in Dan Brown's novel Da Vinci Code serves as an example. The character is presented in a way that the audience would think he is the mastermind of the whole conspiracy in the church. Later in the novel it was revealed that he was innocent. Interestingly, the Italian surname of the bishop "Aringarosa" translates in English as "red herring".