Stop using prophecy as a cheap plot twist, it kills the stakes

I read three submissions this week on a critique thread in this sub where the hero's victory was preordained by some vague vision. One had a 7 page prophecy that basically spelled out every chapter beat. In my experience, once a reader knows the ending is locked in, tension drops to zero. If you want to use prophecy, make it a warning that can fail, not a spoiler. Has anyone else noticed this trend in fantasy prompts lately?

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umac7118d ago

Drop the whole prophecy thing unless it's broken halfway through. A vision that fails or gets twisted by someone's dumb choices is way more interesting than a magical spoiler alert. Every time a story leans on a prophecy to explain the ending, I just skim ahead to see if the author actually does something different. Spoiler, they usually don't. So yes, it kills the stakes, and I'm tired of pretending otherwise.