The Red Herring

 I laughed the first time I heard the term, red herring. It just sounded silly. I also, as a much younger person, laughed at the word, moot, for the same reason. And while I learned a valuable vocabulary lesson when I  discovered the meaning of a moot point those many years ago, I only recently discovered how important a red herring is to a novel.

There is no actual fish species as a red herring and there are several variations of the origin of the term. One source on the Internet explains that the distinctive smell of the cured herring (the curing process turns it red) was used to confuse hunting dogs or test their ability to stay on a scent. But in the literary sense a red herring is as essential to your plot as a protagonist and antagonist. It's a decoy. A false clue. And if used correctly to mislead, you can build suspense and create a puzzling mystery that will keep readers guessing until the clever detective reveals the murderer or villain at the end of your story.

As my own story developed, I sensed that I was giving too much away much too soon. It seemed so obvious who was behind the chaos I had created and I knew I had to do something. So I re-wrote several scenes to distract the reader from one character to another and threw in a couple more secondary characters to lead the reader in another direction discovering quite by accident that I had created a very necessary piece to the puzzle of the plot, a red herring.

So have fun with it. It's your world and like an omnipotent ruler you have power over the subjects in your novel. Make them work for you to create an unforgettable story and use the red herring to send your readers on the proverbial wild goose chase. And in the end you can smile with satisfaction as you imagine them saying, "Wow. I never thought he was the one."

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

"I could write a book" is a phrase usually uttered after a traumatic or memorable event. "I can't believe this is happening to me," is another cry of disbelief. And although frustration prompts the average person to slap their forehead with their hand, from a writer's point of view they've just discovered an idea for a story.

Where do you get your ideas for your books? That’s the question I’m asked most often and the simple answer is everywhere. Novels, in my opinion, are based on actual events, historical or your own, or just typical human behavior. And as you write you may recognize your own quirks and ticks, a neighbor, a family member, someone from your past. The news is great fodder for new story ideas too.

So pay attention to what goes on around you. Listen to what people say. Observe what they're wearing and how they behave. Even buildings and everyday objects can spark an idea. I guess what I’m trying to say is that writers instinctively know this. We notice the unusual as well as the mundane and where others muddle through, we can’t help but create.

Magic Words

Hocus-Pocus. Abracadabra. Fanciful magic words every writer at one time or another has probably wished they could use to solve a problem with their work. Personally, I prefer to wiggle my nose, but that doesn’t help either. The magic words I’m referring to are the ordinary and the plain. The everyday words that can be magic when mixed and blended like pigments on a canvas to paint imagery of a character, location or scenic vista in the mind. Stretch their meaning, push the boundaries, and make them work. Our job as writers is to tell a story in a way that draws a reader in—to keep them turning the pages. Long descriptions, tedious detail and frequent trips to the dictionary only jerk a reader from your tale, breaking the spell you’ve labored to create in the pages of your book. So resist the temptation to overuse flowery adjectives, exotic words and, of course, the dreaded adverb. And like a sculptor, chip away as you edit to reveal the magic words of your story.