Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Misdirection

Lately I've been exposed to crime stories on TV, as I've mentioned before. Murder isn't my thing, sure I kill people in my books, but never murder. I get bored and switch from my viewer mind to my writer mind.

Looking at the misdirection angle, some of them are sloppy - dropping clues over the transom. Some of the writing is excellent. The difference is connecting the dots, of course, in a logical/believable way.

The suspect always lies and the stars always know they are lying and trip them up with a clue.

I'm not as quick with spotting lies. I don't lie because it is too much trouble to keep them straight. When I catch someone in a lie, I'm angry. For me, each caught lie erodes the relationship until there is nothing worth salvaging.

So the writing stretch for me would be to learn to write a character who is a believable liar. Wonder if I can do it? What type of character would be a stretch for you to write?

2 comments:

  1. I think I'd find it hard to write a really authentic male as my lead character - I know that my natural bias and experience would give the character too many sterotype attributes.

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  2. I agree, and to some extent, that is what writers do. The older James Bond always finds his way to bed with a beautiful woman. It is a fine line between believable and sterotype, isn't it?

    In Storm Surge it was always a battle to make Kathryn stronger, yet not out of character. The turning point in her strength was her trip to Ireland in High Tide.

    There is a lot to thinking about in fiction writing.

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