I'm curious — would you count the "shaggy dog" story structure as a plot twist?
It's the archetypal story that ends up falling away from its objective: the quest that loses sight of the grail, the journey that never finds the destination and isn't duly concerned with it. To me, it seems like a parody of the plot twist, and I enjoy how it first requires the writer to understand the cliché of such an ending. Funny enough, most of the readers I know dislike the shaggy dog ending (as something that deliberately misleads them).
I'm not sure if I would include it as a plot twist necessarily, though it certainly subverts expectations. The Shaggy Dog archetype is more comedic (or anti-comedic in many cases) whereas plot twists, by my estimation, are intended to be dramatic.
As an aside, one of my favorite "shaggy dog" jokes was told by Norm MacDonald during an interview with Conan O'Brien about a depressed moth's visit to a podiatrist.
I'm curious — would you count the "shaggy dog" story structure as a plot twist?
It's the archetypal story that ends up falling away from its objective: the quest that loses sight of the grail, the journey that never finds the destination and isn't duly concerned with it. To me, it seems like a parody of the plot twist, and I enjoy how it first requires the writer to understand the cliché of such an ending. Funny enough, most of the readers I know dislike the shaggy dog ending (as something that deliberately misleads them).
I'm not sure if I would include it as a plot twist necessarily, though it certainly subverts expectations. The Shaggy Dog archetype is more comedic (or anti-comedic in many cases) whereas plot twists, by my estimation, are intended to be dramatic.
As an aside, one of my favorite "shaggy dog" jokes was told by Norm MacDonald during an interview with Conan O'Brien about a depressed moth's visit to a podiatrist.
Okay, I follow—hard to include it if it's an anti-dramatic effect, I suppose.
Also, that's one un-matchable premise to any joke.
If you've never seen it, it's well worth the four minutes of your life to watch it: https://youtu.be/1-MJy7w69EU?si=YSom6CizlRZoLlwG