Red Herrings: How to Mislead and Surprise Readers
In today's episode, we’re going to talk about how to mislead and surprise your readers using red herrings. Here's a preview of what's included:
[01:20] A red herring is anything that distracts readers and/or your characters from an important truth. Red herrings can also lead readers and/or your character to mistakenly expect one particular outcome over another.
[02:00] Red herrings are a type of foreshadowing. The term "foreshadowing:" encompasses all the different ways that an author can give readers hints or clues about what’s coming.
[02:10] Red herrings can be used in any genre. If your story has any kind of plot twist or surprise ending, you can use red herrings to distract the reader (or your characters) from the truth of what’s actually happening. Different genres change how the reader will view and respond to the red herrings in your story.
[03:10] I walk you through an example of how red herrings are used in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This is one of my favorite examples of red herrings!
[06:15] Tip #1: Incorporate red herrings into the fabric of your story so that it feels like an organic part of the plot and not something random to create tension or conflict.
[07:20] Tip #2: Give your innocent characters motivation, means, and opportunity to have committed the crime.
[07:55] Tip #3: Give the reader no (obvious) reason to suspect your guilty character.
[09:00] Tip #4: Focus the reader’s attention elsewhere when you plant "true" clues.
[10:00] Tip #5: Always play fair with the reader. Don't mess with readers by withholding important information that should have been given upfront.
[11:35] Key points and episode recap.
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