Red Herrings and Bluebirds

Red Herrings and Bluebirds: Clues that Deceive

Okay, so this might seem a little more suited for a blog about writing mysteries than writing speculative fiction, but let’s face it, lots of stories have mystery elements. So, let’s explore.

Red Herrings

Everyone has heard of Red Herrings. They are clues or plot points that look important, only to later turn out to be a distraction. Maybe someone was deliberately trying to fool the characters or maybe it’s only for the sake of the readers.

The common claim is that the term red herring came from fox hunting, where hounds would be tested by having a fish dragged across the trail to see if they would be tricked to follow the fish instead of the fox. A well-trained hound wouldn’t be distracted. Apparently there are no known cases of that actually happening with fox hunting, and even a few suggestions of the opposite, but we’re writing, not fox hunting.

For literary purposes, a red herring is meant to distract and have everyone looking in the wrong direction. It’s pyrite that lures people away from the uncut diamond.

Be careful with your red herrings. Yes, if you are writing a mystery, people expect a few, but make sure they make sense in the story. Even those questions can and probably should be answered. If the guy who lives all the way at the end of the hall is always conveniently missing when the chaos goes down and the phantom shows up, but turns out not to be involved in causing it, please explain where he is. Maybe the reason he’s been really sketchy about his whereabouts is because he didn’t want anyone to know that he’s currently seeking medical treatment for his narcolepsy. Why couldn’t anyone find him? He had fallen asleep in the closet.

Or maybe something is a red herring because the source lied about it. Sure, the lady in white told you all about the argument that two people had before one was viciously murdered, but she’s lying through her teeth. There was no argument. Maybe she’s lying because she did it. Or maybe that’s a red herring too, and she just has a grudge against the other person. Or she thinks they did it but there’s no proof, so she’s trying to frame the guilty party.

Planting red herrings in a way that is convincing without being too subtle or too obvious is tricky, and probably requires a lot of practice. Still, if you are writing a book that is a mystery or has a mystery subplot, you shouldn’t neglect them.

Bluebirds

Okay, confession time. There’s no such thing. I literally made up the term, tonight. But I think it fits anyway.

Bluebirds, at least where I live, are oddities in that they look like pretty drab looking birds from most angles and most lights. Right up until the sun hits them just right and they are suddenly startlingly and almost unnaturally blue. If you’ve never seen it in person, I’m sorry but you just won’t understand how amazing the effect is. Since most pictures are taken to showcase them at their bluest, it’s hard to realize how much bluebirds don’t look like bluebirds most of the time.

By that reckoning, a bluebird should be a clue, a person, or a thing, that is just there and doesn’t seem important, until suddenly it’s vital. It’s a type of Chekhov’s Gun (“If there is a gun on the mantle in the first act, it must be fired by the third act.” Inspired by playwright Anton Chekhov. Language warning for site), but there’s a wide range of Chekhov’s Guns, and I think there are room for bluebirds which fit perfectly as thematic opposites of red herrings.

A bluebird is when your character suddenly realizes that the tutor who has been teaching them Elvish the whole time is actually the lost Elven General, who would really rather stay lost. Forgive the spoilers, but it’s when the invisibility cloak that Harry has been using for various things from book one, turns out to be a magical artefact that works to grant practically godlike powers in book seven.

The trick to a good bluebird is that the characters, and preferably the readers, will overlook it. It will seem something ordinary and commonplace. Until it isn’t. It’s kind of like finding out that the pen you play with at your desk signed the Treaty of Versailles. That’s a bluebird.

Clearly, both of these tools can be done well or done badly. They can also be overdone. Some readers will figure them out, and that’s fine. Others won’t, and that’s also fine. I don’t think there is an ideal goal for how many should and shouldn’t figure out a plot trick on the first read through, and it’s not like we would find out anyway, but it’s still something to ask your second readers about.

Good luck. And please help me spread ‘Bluebird’ as a literary term.

How have you used red herrings and bluebirds in your stories?  

How to Eat a Whale

How to Eat a Whale

Writing a book is a daunting task.

There’s coming up with the concept or story idea, brainstorming, planning, research, writing draft after draft, editing, maybe some more writing, more editing, finding another reader, etc. If you decide to do anything either than leave it sitting on your computer to be discovered after your death so the world knows your genius, there are other daunting tasks of getting it published, either yourself or through someone else. Each one of those involves plenty of other steps. Just thinking about it is enough to make you scream. How does anyone get any of it done?

So how do you do it? The same way you eat a whale. One step, or bite, at a time.

Looking at the finished goal before you start is scary, overwhelming, and completely counterproductive. If you are hiking the Appalachian Trail, starting Georgia, you can’t begin by thinking about the end point in Maine. Don’t completely forget about that, either, but concentrate on smaller steps. Like figuring out how you are going to find water and restock your food caches in Georgia.

But I’m not currently planning on hiking the Appalachian Trail, and if you are, there are better sources. So, writing.

I could say books are written one page at a time. That’s even true. Except for how it isn’t. Because a lot more goes into a book than actual writing or typing. But the first step to every major project is to make a plan.

How you plan may not be the same as how I do it. I fall a little more on the panster side of the plotter versus panster debate, but I do have some freewriting and outlining done before or as I write. Okay, sometimes I just start typing, but I freely admit that I’ve usually had more success with the stories I had at least some idea where I was going.

Maybe you include a step of coming up with character bios, or maybe voice journaling. Maybe you include a step of coming up with major plot points. Maybe you need to break down research, like ‘On Wednesday, I will look up New England Fishing Rules in the 1800’s, on Thursday, I will research Mermaid legends, and on Friday I will tag along on my friend’s fishing trip.’

I’m more or less about to start my next book. I did start it once, got about fifteen pages, but I think I’m going to re-work them. So, how can I break down this cozy mystery? It’s book two in a series, so I don’t have to re-create every character, which helps. But I do have to bring in new ones and dig deeper into the characters I had from the last book. So one of my strategies was to come up with character bios, particularly for the suspects. Another step was to try to come up with a list of clues and when they would be revealed. I didn’t completely succeed in that, but I did come up with a lot of plot points that I am satisfied with and will have to play a few things by ear.

Another step, which I haven’t done yet, but absolutely should at some point is try to come up with a basic map for this town if it is going to be the setting for this series so I don’t do something like put the landmark building on Fifth Avenue in one book, and on a tiny side street in another.

I didn’t officially list it as a step, but I’ve done a fair bit of research in various points so far, and should make a list of other things I need to look up. Maybe after draft one. To avoid breaking momentum, it’s not a bad idea to make a list of things to research and just keep writing. They can wait until your next research day.

Some break a plan into ‘Write Chapter One, Write Chapter Two,’. I tend to chapter my stories intuitively, ‘That’s a good place to end the chapter’, so I’m more likely to plan out my word counts for a time period (day, week, etc.)

Writing is a marathon, but even that is possible if you try just one step at a time (which in that case, includes training for a marathon.) Enjoy your whale!

How do you prepare for writing a book?

Can You Hear Me Now?

Can You Hear Me Now? : Cellphones in Speculative Fiction

Mobile phones have seriously changed the way we write and what we write. There used to be entire episodes of shows based on the premise of just missing another person or not being able to get in touch with them. And that worked just fine! Until everyone and their pet giraffe started carrying phones (and mini computers) in their pockets. And forget the whole trope of the bad guys cutting the phone wires. Now any plot or plot point dependent on the character not being able to get in touch with anyone else seems suspect. Young children carry phones. Grandparents carry phones. Even homeless people may have phones. I definitely have a phone in my pocket, and odds are good you have one too.

The Challenges of Cell Phones

So, if your plot, in part or in total absolutely depends on your character not being able to get in touch with anyone else, what can you do?

Change the time period. Truly convenient mobile phones are a relatively recent invention. Sure, mobile phones existed back in the sixties, but it wasn’t until the nineties or so that they were small enough and technologically advanced enough for most people to bother. Even then, they were expensive and far more limited in what you could do with them.

Also, try to consider what phones were like pre-smart phone era. My first cell phone that I actually used was a flip phone. My screen was about half the size of a playing card, if that. I pressed buttons to type and would usually have to press the same button multiple times to get the letter I needed. I could take pictures, though the resolution was really bad, of course. I could technically browse the web with it, but it was too much of a pain to bother. It did come with a couple of built in games, the most complicated of which was Sudoku. As you might imagine, I used this phone almost exclusively to make phone calls, some texting. I had this phone in 2007. I don’t remember when it died. I do remember being upset that I couldn’t find another phone like it but had to upgrade to a smart phone. Of course, now that I have done so, I would never go back.

But as you can see, it wouldn’t be too hard in many cases to have a story that feels mostly contemporary but doesn’t have the cell phone as ubiquitous as it is now.

Take away the phone. Maybe the character forgot it. Or forgot to charge it and the battery is now dead. Maybe someone stole the phone from them (works best if that was deliberate by whoever doesn’t want them to talk to someone, not a coincidence). Maybe the phone broke. Maybe the phone isn’t working. Yesterday, my phone, for a few hours, refused to send or receive phone calls or texts. Fortunately, turning it off and back on again fixed the issue. Maybe they are out of a service area. Maybe they are being jammed.

Maybe your character abhors phones. Be careful with that one. It works fine for a conspiracy theorist or someone who prides themselves on self-sufficiency or being at one with nature, etc. It works much less well on someone whose life or job revolves around being able to communicate.

Give them a reason not to use it. Okay, sure your protagonist can turn on their phone and call the park rangers to rescue them while they are lost in the forest with a broken leg, but as soon as they do, the phone will send a signal to the bad guy telling them exactly where they are. Or maybe the phone has a curse on it that could destroy anyone who uses it. Or maybe the phone is tapped. Or they win a million dollars if they can just go one week without using their phone.

Impossible Phones

Cell phones definitely aren’t all bad. They can have a lot of advantages for your characters as well. And, since we are writing speculative fiction, we may want to figure out how we can incorporate magic or advanced technology in our fictional cell phones.

Video calls were speculated as far back as phones almost. It’s only been relatively recently that they became common. So, what if we jazzed it up a bit. Maybe have holograms of the person you are talking to. Don’t let the term fool you, that could be magic as easily as technology. Using magic means it doesn’t even necessarily have to be a cell phone. If I carried a smooth black rock that lets me communicate with a picture of someone else, is that really all that different from a cell phone?

Phone sizes and basic shapes have changed a lot. No reason that can’t happen more. Maybe we’ll go the Google glasses type route to keep everything integrated and hands free. Or the Dick Tracy route and have phones through watches. Or we could even go cyborg and have basic phone systems implanted inside us. I don’t see people changing to any of those wholesale any time quickly, but we could.

Can your cell phone run on magic? Do any of the apps help you track vampire sightings or where the resonating crystals are? Can you summon your phone from a pocket dimension or use runes to make sure it can’t be lost or stolen? Do cell phones not work with magic at all?

I’ve used several tricks to work with cell phones in my stories. Probably I have become more aware of the need for that as I become more dependent on my own cell phone. In the Hyde Chronicles, Violet doesn’t have a cell phone because cell phones don’t work in the school. My excuse for that is that the school is both in a very remote location and a nexus point between dimensions. Landlines work, internet works, but no cell phones. Is that completely fair? Perhaps not. But it works for my books.

In the Moonlit Memories, series, my characters definitely have cell phones, but I don’t have them use them perhaps as much as I should. I noticed that my most recent book in the series has them use them more often.

In my mystery, A Wedding to Die For (not out yet), my main character is an event planner and her phone is part of how she organizes all her notes.

In my quest story (also not out yet, but should be soon), due to time and technology of the world, phones don’t exist.

In other news, I have finished what will hopefully be my last major revision of the third Moonlit Memories book, currently titled Ring of Blood. It is currently in the hands of my second reader. If all goes well, I will be announcing its publication date soon.

How do you handle cell phones in your stories?