Little Random Crumbs About Writing

Fool Them With a Red Herring

A red herring is a plot device used by writers to mislead a reader into going a different direction. It could be a possible suspect in a mystery story, na hindi naman pala talaga siya ang pinaka-suspect, na nilagay lang siya roon para itago ang totoong killer.

From a reader's perspective, encountering red herrings is a good thing dahil pwede nilang isipin na, "Magaling itong si author gumawa ng mystery. Naloloko niya ako." It gives some challenge. Even the shock feels good. I, myself, likes it everytime na napapasabi ako na, "Hala, shet, inosente pala siya? E sinong pinaka-villain ng story?"

My favorite mystery novel na may perfectly-made red herring is 'yung Gone Girl. The red herring there is...

(SPOILER ALERT!)

(PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING BELOW KUNG HINDI MO PA NABABASA ANG LIBRONG IYON, OR KUNG HINDI MO PA NAPAPANOOD ANG MOVIE ADAPTATION NIYA)

(READY?)

The red herring in Gone Girl is Amy's Diary. It made us think kasi na inosente siya, it fooled us into thinking na sobrang sama ng asawa niya, na lagi siyang sinasaktan physically ni Nick, painting him as the bad person in the story whereas biktima lang talaga ito ng pangfe-frame up.

(END OF SPOILER)

So a red herring can be anything. Hindi lang siya in a person form lang.

My tip in writing a good red herring to your mystery novel is write it with a fixed villain in mind, at kapag malapit ka na sa ending, reject him as the villain, and point another character, and reshape your story with that character as the real villain.

Ganoon ang ginawa ko actually sa The Town of Broken Dicks. I wrote it with Character A as the main villain, pero noong papatapos na ako sa pagsusulat, binago ko iyon, ginawa kong si Character B.

In that way, mas magwo-work ang pagmi-mislead mo sa kanila dahil ikaw rin mismo ay iyon ang iniisip habang isinusulat iyon.

I know you would say, "E paano magiging convincing ang pagiging villain niya kung nasulat mo iyon initially with Character A as the villain?"

Honey, we have what we call editing.

Of course, we'll sprinkle clues sa mga previous chapter to make the incrimination effective.

But, clarify ko lang, hiding your real villain in the story is not that always easy.

The best way to check kung gumana ba ang ginawa mo ay sa paghingi ng feedback sa mga mambabasa mo. You can use the help of beta readers, those first few trusted people na pinipili mong magbasa ng akda mo, na willing magbigay ng matinong feedback. It's important na honest itong mga napili mong beta readers para malaman mo talaga kung effective ang ginawa mo sa story. (More about beta readers sa mga susunod pang parts).

Lastly, mag-imbak ka ng maraming way para i-end ang story mo. Think of alternate endings. When you're doing your developmental edits, mamili ka sa mga alternate endings mo kung sino ang mas matimbang sa kanila, dahil hindi naman lagi na kung anong unang naisip natin ay iyon na agad ang maganda.

Ayun. I hope that helped.