I’d like to welcome Jeannie Campbell, the character therapist, to Mystery Writing is Murder today. Jeannie’s take on character motivation and the psychology of characters on her blog, The Character Therapist, is a great way to develop your characters and give them some depth.
And, I’m over at Mason Canyon’s blog, Thoughts in Progress, today, with a post titled: A Mystery Writer’s View of the World (and 6 Tips for Friends of Mystery Writers). Hope you’ll join me!
Good myste
ry writers know all about red herrings. Red herrings are clues that are designed to mislead readers and make them suspect the wrong characters for whodunit. Of course, the placement of red herrings is deliberate because you want to keep the reader surprised as the story unfolds who the true culprit is.
In the world of counseling and psychology, families do this all the time. It’s called scapegoating. A common example is when a child gets pinned as the guilty party when in actuality, the dysfunction in the family stems from the mother or father’s relationship.
Families do this to draw attention away from the actual problem and on to someone else. “My absentee parenting and alcohol abuse is not the problem. Little Junior is. See how he constantly throw tantrums?”
Never mind the fact that he throws tantrums as a way to cope when Dad’s drunk and abusive. At least when he’s having a tantrum, Dad doesn’t hit Mom because they both turn their focus on him.
Writers end up scapegoating characters all the time, especially in mystery writing. We want our readers to focus attention elsewhere while we hide the truth from them. In counseling, this deflection is not good and actually interferes with the therapeutic process. In mystery writing, this distraction is a necessary evil pleasure that makes the mystery harder to solve.
When I’m counseling a family that is exhibiting a scapegoating tendency, it truly gives me a headache. All the anger and stress and frustration is directed at one person, an any attempt on my part to lighten the scapegoat’s load is met with denial.
I’d like to propose that mystery writers should be so good at scapegoating that any attempt on the author’s part to weave in clues pointing to some other killer or thief would be met with reader denial, as well.
If you’ve done the work to throw off the reader, make them truly buy into it. Make the case so ironclad that the reader says to himself, “Well, it has to be Colonel Mustard. I mean, he mentioned how attractive and costly that candlestick was earlier in the book. His fingerprints were even found on it next to the victim. He had to have done it.”
This is exactly what scapegoating families do. They will drag out one piece of evidence after another to prove their point that Little Junior is the problem (read: culprit). “He won’t listen. He doesn’t obey. He screams and kicks. He’s out of control.”
Once you’ve gotten the reader rattling off a list of evidence that points to Colonel Mustard and you have them summarily dismissing other clues you planted that show his innocence, you’ve done your scapegoating job well.
I hope that I
’ll get a chance to connect with many of you over at my new website, The Character Therapist and my blog. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter and receive the Writer’s Guide to Character Motivation for free!
Also up for grabs to one lucky commenter of this post is the Writer’s Guide to Creating Rich Back Stories. Leave a comment and don’t forget to include your email address! Comment through Saturday, June 11th, midnight ET for your chance to win.
I’ve read several mysteries where I refused to even consider the real culprit a suspect just because I liked them so much… when you have your readers thinking, “No, it CAN’T be them!” then you have totally done your job.
I loved this blog post, thank you Jeannie (and Elizabeth for hosting it!). I followed your blog and wanted to get my hands on your Guide so I subscribed to your newsletter, too! :D
I really like how you use your experience from your area of expertise in this. I’m a clinical psychologist (in training) myself, and I try to do the same! :)
All the best :)
Elizabeth – Thanks for hosting Jeannie.
Jeannie – How absolutely fascinating to look at character development from the therapist’s point of view. “Red herrings” are an awful lot like scapegoating and I hadn’t thought about that at all until I read your post. I think we consider what readers are thinking, that adds an awful lot to the appeal of a novel. Thanks for the “food for thought.”
Jeannie, enjoyable post. I’ve read several books where I was so convinced person A was the killer that it was a complete surprise it was person D. :) Love those kind of books.
Elizabeth, thanks for the introduction to Jeannie and for guest blogging at Thoughts in Progress today.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Freelance Editing By Mason
Such a great post, Jeannie! I love thinking about the psychology of characters. This scapegoating is fascinating and I’d never thought of what I was really doing when I was setting up a red herring/deflecting the reader.
Another cool trick for mystery writers is to do exactly as you mention–have the readers *convinced* that Colonel Mustard has done it, listing the reasons in their heads…then murder Colonel Mustard during the book’s saggy middle. :) *Now* who’s done it? Or are there 2 murderers?
Fascinating post! Another tricky way to use a red herring is to make the motive rather than the character the red herring.
I’ve bookmarked your blog and plan to visit regularly–thanks!
That’s why I’ll never be a good mystery writer – not good at the red herrings! But the interaction of people and their relationships is fascinating.
Okay this was just amazing! I clicked over to your blog and was so impressed and excited I subscribed to your newsletter AND bought all of your Writer’s Guides. They were so nicely priced and I need all the help I can get with my current manuscript.
Thanks for hosting Jeannie, Elizabeth.
Mary Higgins Clark does that and she’s the only one who keeps me on my toes! I was fed Agatha Christie from the crib!
S.B. Niccum
Author Website
Blog
This is a fascinating look into characters. I’m no good which that sort of deception, but I marvel when other people use it to great effect. It makes my heart race, especially when I’m so afraid that the character I like might be culprit and the evidence is stacking up against them.
Love seeing Jeannie floating around the blogsphere. Her blog is a wealth of great information!
Thanks Ladies:)
Ah, now you have diverted me with two fine blog posts today. I must go and check out Jeannie´s blog as well.
What an excellent guest post by Jeannie! I’ve yet to use a scapegoat in my writing~probably because I don’t write mystery~but now I want to!
momlarky – those are my favorite kinds of mysteries…the ones where i almost feel betrayed when the real culprit is unveiled.
manon – i think having our background as writers is the best of both worlds.
elizabeth – if the person i was convinced was doing the killing gets murdered, that definitely keeps me on my toes. LOVE it.
margot – thanks for the kind words!
mason – thanks for your support! i’m on my way to click over to your blog today…
angela – thanks so much! i’m sure i’ll “see” you around then. :)
heather – i’m no good at mystery writing, either. i’m way to transparent. i’d give it away in the very beginning, i’m sure.
elizabeth – wow! thanks for your support! hopefully you got my email.
*waves* at SB and Tamika!
dorte – see you over at my cyber corner, then!
I had my students write a mystery earlier this year – it was fun teaching about red herrings!
Great post over at Mason’s Elizabeth :)
First off, kudos to you for working such a tough job. It’s got to be hard to see the good side of people when you’re dealing with that sort of thing so much.
I loved how you used your experience to show examples. I never really thought of scapegoating as a red herring, but that’s exactly what it is.
You’ve also given me some things to think about with my own red herring.
Great post!
Great post. Both of you are popping up all over the internet. Red Herrings and scapegoats – excellent topic and character development tips.
Can’t wait to put this wonderful advice to use!
Hugs,
Pammer
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Great post! I love it when i get to the end of the book and haven’t figured out who the villian is! Will definitely be back.