Category: Reading

As a writer, you know that crafting a compelling story is all about keeping your readers engaged and interested from beginning to end. One of the most effective ways to do this is by incorporating climactic plot twists into your storyline.

A climactic plot twist is a sudden and unexpected turn of events that changes everything the reader thought they knew about the story. It can be a major revelation, an unexpected character development, or a surprise event that alters the course of the narrative.

Here are some tips for structuring your storyline with climactic plot twists:

Start with a Strong Foundation

Before you can incorporate any plot twists into your story, you need to have a strong foundation in place. This means developing well-rounded characters, establishing clear goals and motivations, and creating a believable world for them to inhabit.

Once you have these foundational elements in place, you can begin to brainstorm potential plot twists that would naturally arise from the established elements of your story.

Build Tension Throughout

One key element of an effective climactic plot twist is building tension throughout the story. The reader should feel like something big is looming on the horizon, even if they don’t know what it is yet. This tension will make the eventual twist all the more impactful.

You can build tension in various ways – through foreshadowing, creating conflict between characters, or using pacing and structure to create moments of anticipation.

Make it Believable

While a good plot twist should be surprising and unexpected, it still needs to be believable within the context of your story. If it feels too contrived or out of left field, it will pull readers out of the narrative rather than drawing them further in.

To ensure believability, make sure your twist arises naturally from established elements of your story – whether that’s character traits or earlier events – and avoid relying on cheap tricks or deus ex machina moments.

Use it Wisely

Finally, remember that not every story needs a huge climactic plot twist. Sometimes simplicity is best. But when used effectively, these twists can take an already great story to new heights.

So use them wisely – save them for moments when they will have maximum impact on both your characters and readers alike.

Incorporating climactic plot twists into your storytelling toolkit takes practice and skill but mastering this technique can help elevate your writing game to new heights. Remember to start with strong foundations before building tension throughout while making sure each twist remains believable within context before finally using each one wisely ensuring maximum impact.

People often think about how much they could accomplish if only they could read faster. The idea of greatly increasing your reading speed is certainly tempting, which is why so many speed reading courses exist. While a poor reader may be able to significantly increase reading speed by eliminating bad habits, highly proficient readers are likely to find their reading speed is limited by human physiology. The ease with which you can start speed reading is therefore dependent upon your initial level of skill.

Maximum Speed

Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can’t, and What Can Be Done About It by Mark Seidenberg provides some general figures on a person’s maximum reading speed. Humans can read a maximum of about eight letters per fixation, which we can do up to five times per second. This means we can read a maximum of 40 letters per second, or 2,400 letters per minute. Words have an average of five letters separated by a space, for a total of six words. That means the maximum reading speed is about 400 words per minute, assuming easy reading material with basic comprehension.

Skimming

The exact figures on reading speed aren’t particularly important. The point is, reading speed can’t be significantly increased above a certain limit without seriously sacrificing comprehension. Furthermore, that limit is much lower than the speed claimed by many self-professed speed readers. These people are generally skimming the material by only focusing on words they deem important, resulting in a speed that’s much higher than what should be possible. However, controlled tests usually show that speed readers have poor comprehension and even worse retention.

Practice

While reading faster than 300 to 400 words per minute without sacrificing comprehension isn’t really feasible, many people read more slowly than this. Regular practice is the key to increasing reading speed, especially if you aren’t as proficient at it as you could be. For example, skilled readers have greater background knowledge about the differences between written and spoken language. Acquiring this information requires you to read, as opposed to learning the various “tricks” of speed reading.

At a conscious level, reading is merely a means of understanding written text, whether it’s for education, entertainment or communication. Subconsciously, reading also helps you develop the elaborate knowledge of linguistics needed to read quickly. In addition to regular practice, you also need to read new material that contains new words or familiar words used in new ways. A large sample of genres and writing styles is therefore essential for improving your reading proficiency.

Summary

The idea that you can greatly increase your reading speed is generally a fallacy if you’re already a proficient reader. However, it is possible for regular reading to improve your speed over time, although this may be a slow process. Increasing your knowledge of written language is crucial for reaching the physiological limits of your reading speed.