Tag Archives: clues

Technique

Bury clues using framing with scene goals

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This entry is part 3 of 11 in the series Clues in non mysteries

Finally, the fun stuff: techniques for making sure your clues and foreshadowing are in there, but don’t attract too much attention from your reader that you’re telegraphing the pass.

Burying clues is all about framing: mentioning the object or information in plain sight, but in light of something more important so that the reader doesn’t think, “Ah, this is out of place/overly conspicuous/waaay too innocent looking—it must mean something.”

The first way we’ll discuss burying clues I’m calling “using framing with scene goals.” Scene goals are the POV character’s “mission” going into the scene. These goals should be fairly obvious, and may even be stated: “He had to get that folder from her before she looked inside,” “If I didn’t find out what the assignment was, I was toast,” etc.

So the POV character comes into the scene focused on this goal—maybe a little too focused, in fact. Maybe so focused that we use this to our advantage. As Jack Bickham explains (emphasis mine):

We know that the viewpoint character is strongly motivated toward a specific, short-term goal essential to his long-term quest when he enters the scene. Therefore, he will tend to be preoccupied with this goal throughout the scene. In fiction, as in real life, people tend to interpret everything in the frame of reference of their preoccupation of the moment. This is why it’s sometimes possible to make the wildest excursions inside the conflict appear to have relevance: The viewpoint character will inevitably interpret almost anything as relating back to the goal; you can show his line of thinking in an internalization, and so drag the seeming excursion far afield back into apparent relevance.

When our characters are so focused on this goal, we can use that focus to help the character (and thus the reader) dismiss something that might obviously be a clue. “Oh, he’s just hanging around because he needs to get the assignment, too.”

The scene goal tempers how a character sees material clues. They can explain them away easily: “Oh, that paperwork is on her desk—good! She’s been busy. She hasn’t had a chance to look inside the folder.”

Or they can just barely notice them—just enough to warrant a mention, but we have a MISSION here, people, and we are not going to get sidetracked!

What do you think? Have you ever had a character so focused on a scene goal that they led a reader away from a clue?

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Technique

What are clues?

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This entry is part 2 of 11 in the series Clues in non mysteries

I’m taking a bloggy vacation this week, so we’ll resume this series when I get back! Other posts scheduled later this week, too!

In a mystery, a clue—or at least its definition—is obvious: it’s a little fact that, along with all the others, adds up to finding the murderer and his/her motive and opportunity. These clues include objects at (or from) the crime scene, objects or information relating to the victim or killer, and interactions with the as-yet-unknown killer, as well as red herrings, clues pointing to an innocent but viable suspect, or clues that seem to prove the innocence of the real killer.

In a work that isn’t a murder mystery or thriller, however, there’s often still a central mystery or question that isn’t answered until an important point in the plot: a secret revealed at a key moment, a reversal, a shapeshifter (archetypal, not literal) unmasked, etc. And of course, there’s usually a central element of mystery in the plot: what will happen? These mysteries are the kind of thing that you might mention with a *SPOILER ALERT* warning first (just like you would in a regular mystery).

And just like in mysteries, clues are again the little events, objects, or information that foreshadow the coming revelation: clues that show us a character isn’t who she says she is, a hint that an ally or a rival knows more than they’re letting on, or even just an unusual event or object that the POV character notices (just barely).

The balancing act with all clues is difficult because if we draw too much attention to them, we run the risk of giving away the mystery. A less serious risk would be overplaying the mystery—for minor reveals, if we include too much buildup, the “payoff” of the reveal will be less satisfying.

On the other hand, if we bury the clues too well—or neglect to include them at all—the reader feels like the rug was pulled out from under him. The reader goes from the surprise an author is aiming for right to betrayal.

With this series, we’ll look at several methods of burying these clues, so that our reader notices them just enough, and try to address how much is just enough.

What do you think? What kind of “clues” do you use?

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Technique

Clues in non-mysteries

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This entry is part 1 of 11 in the series Clues in non mysteries

Every book, no matter what the style or genre, has some element of mystery, whether that’s “whodunnit” or “What happens next?” While surprise is fun to play with in a story, the major plot and character movements should really come from somewhere, set up with foreshadowing, or clues.

And let’s face it, these clues are a tough balancing act. We have to let the reader know there’s something coming for them, that these events that don’t seem significant will be—but at the same time, we can’t build small things up too much, or we’ll disappoint our readers instead of rewarding them with the payoff, and probably more importantly, we don’t want to give away the coming twists.

Whether you’re writing a mystery or romance or literary fiction, there’s always something we’ll want to “bury” so our readers don’t realize its significance at first. In this series, we’ll look at what these clues might be and several ways to hide them!

What do you think? What kind of “clues” do you see in non mysteries?

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Technique

Surprise—and betrayal

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This entry is part 4 of 26 in the series Tension, suspense and surprise

We haven’t touched on surprise too much, despite it being in the title of our series. There are two reasons I included it: the difference (or delicate balance) between suspense and surprise, and the fact that surprises can be used to create tension and suspense. But surprises can also be done very, very badly.

Most of the time, surprises shouldn’t come out of left field from the other side of the Green Monster. As writers, it can be very gratifying to pull one over on your readers. But it’s even more gratifying if you’ve surprised them despite the foreshadowing and clues you’ve planted throughout your story. Without something the reader can go back through and identify as a clue (“Oh, man, I should have seen it coming!”), they’re likely to feel betrayed.

The clues and foreshadowing can be a great tool to build an amorphous suspense. If you keep them vague but strong, that sense of foreboding will carry through your work, pulling the readers with it—and they’ll still be stunned when you pull off the big reveal.

But I think the worst kind of surprise is when we base a surprise on something the point of view character already knows but hasn’t told the reader. To me, that’s basically lying—leading the reader to believe that we’ll all be together and we’ll tell the reader everything, but holding back the one thing that our character would know or think or realize that would make the experience complete for the reader.

I don’t mean that we have to spell out everything the character knows the exact second he or she knows it—or have the characters spill their guts to one another. But if the main character has known the truth all along—or they came into the story knowing some arcane fact that’s going to solve the case—that’s the kind of surprise that’s going to ring false to a reader unless it’s supposed to be the point of the whole story (and even then . . . ouch).

So how much foreshadowing is enough? It depends on how big the surprise is—and how central it is to the plot. (Helpful, I know.)

What do you think? How have surprises you’ve read (or written) fallen flat?

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