  Mystery
This week: An illusion or a lie Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week: The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
~George Bernard Shaw |
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A mystery story is like a magic show, and the writer is the magician. The writer weaves word illusions that give the readers enough information to figure out the final solution without making it too easy. Creating an illusion is not the same as lying. A good magician does not have to lie to perform his tricks. When he leads his audience to believe that he will saw a woman in half, he never says that she is really in the box or that the saw is actually passing through her body. He never says that the saw is a normal saw and the box is a normal box. By his actions and careful misdirection, he leads the audience to believe those things are true.
Just as a good magician does not have to lie, neither does a good mystery writer. The difference between a lie and an illusion is subtle, but it is important. The following sentences both give the same information but one is a lie, and the other is an illusion.
Mary saw Joe running away from the crime scene.
Mary said, "I saw Joe running away from the crime scene."
Neither of them is true, because Joe was nowhere near the crime scene, so he could not have been seen running away.
The first statement was made by a third person narrator, who is basically a surrogate for the author, like a movie camera showing the reader what is happening. Since Joe was not at the crime scene, this statement is a lie. Lies from an omniscient narrator (the author) confuse and frustrate readers. Mystery readers are really good at searching through the story for clues and remembering what has already happened. If you lie to them, they will notice.
The second statement is a line of dialogue by a character in the story. There are many reasons why Mary might give a false statement. Maybe she really thought she saw Joe. The man might have looked like him, or worn an article of clothing identical to one he wears. Even if Mary is lying, a lie by a character is not the same as a lie from the author. Characters can lie as much as necessary, as long as you eventually show a good reason for the lie.The real killer might have blackmailed or threatened her. She might be covering up for the real killer because she loves him. Or maybe Mary committed the crime herself. A lie or false statement from a character is a type of illusion that you can use to misdirect readers from the truth.
This does not mean that you cannot use the third person narrator to deliver false information. The narrator might say "A figure in a red jacket ran away from the crime scene," after showing that Joe often wears a red jacket. In this case, the reader is left to draw the conclusion that it might have been Joe without any lie from the author.
An unreliable narrator is a first person narrator who does not tell the whole truth. A first person narrator is a character in the story, so they can lie if necessary. If you use an unreliable narrator, try to leave subtle clues that something might be wrong with the character's perceptions. One well known example of an unreliable narrator is Dennis Lehane's "Shutter Island."
Something to try: Write a mystery story in which a character delivers false information.
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Mystery: September 28, 2016 Issue [#7880]
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