Medieval Twisters

Do you have any twists for Medieval novels? I am running out of ideas and I would take anything right now. It doesn't matter what kind of an idea it is just post below. Who knows maybe your ideas will spark my own.

I'm not sure of the exact time period. Somewhere in the years where there were Kings, Queens, Knights, Couriers and the such.

The location....no idea. I usually just make up my own countries.

I can take some magic ideas. As long as there isn't much magic in it.

Can you clarify the exact time period, location, culture...? We don't have much to go on.

The butler did it.

Blow something up.

Kill a character.

Introduce a new character.

Have someone spill the beans.

Storm the castle!

Escape from the castle.

The knight gets the plague.

Or someone gets small pox.

The princess has an affair with the courier.

The king's mistress is way nicer and sweeter than the actual queen.



Take whatever element is crucial to your plot...and destroy it. Was Character X gong to save the day? Too bad, X is dead now. Was Knight Green going to declare his love to the princess? Too bad, now he's a scumbag who runs away when things get tough.

And that's plot.

You can also throw in things that a midevil period wouldn't know about!

The first gun is developed
There's an eclipse
Someone gets sick with something they can't deal with yet
There's a plague
A storm destroys roads


Oh, and don't forget that horses are not tools, they're living creatures, like dogs.

Horses get bad days, and good days, they will buck you off for no apparent reason whatsoever, or just get grumpy sometimes.

They throw shoes, kick, bite, sigh, squeal, whinny, knicker, and cough. It is really weird to be riding a horse that coughs.

They have personality, so some of them will hat certain people just because of bad experiences in the past, they get moody and refuse to move sometimes just because they are testing you, they don't like random things jumping out at them and some of them will spook because of it.

Don't forget about the importance of mapping. Some countries might not have made maps yet, so they could just be going by familiarity and sign posts. This can be dangerous if you're traveling from one place to another, but also make things more realistic if a character gets lost and has no idea to follow the northern star because, well, does your world even HAVE that?

Consider the myths and legends that go into culture too and you can create a plot twist in there as well, like creating a myth about going around the Moor, and that's because a crazy family used to live there, but now they're gone so when your character gallantly charges into the moor, Whoops, they're not evil any more.

Also because news can travel really slow, you can have them go on a pointless quest where the problem's already been solved by the time they get there.

I am going to be subscribing to this forum, as I am also writing a medieval novel, and need some new plot ideas.

That was a very good and helpful post, @Aley!