Mystery readers love to exercise. Exercise their minds, that is!
A great mystery should challenge readers and make them think. Readers want to figure out the mystery along with the detective and not be able to figure out the mystery by page two. In order to do this, the writer needs to include a literary device called a red herring.
What is a red herring?
A red herring is a dried, smoked herring that looks red from the curing process.
Why should a mystery writer stick kipper snacks into their plot line?
From the information I could find on the original of the phrase, it seems some kind-hearted folks would try to save a hunted fox by dragging a red herring across the path of a fleeing fox, confusing the hound dogs and leading them away from the little red fellow. Another mention of red herrings comes from a poem written in the 1680's, around the same time as the first written mention of the fox hunting reference.
Like the hounds who are thrown off the trail in pursuit of a smoked fish instead of a live fox (the fish probably tastes better anyway), a red herring is a clue meant to confuse readers and make them take the wrong path away from the truth and the solution to the case.
For example; my detective knows his quarry strolled out of a Super Shoe store at six o'clock on the night in question. The pavement in front of the store was freshly cemented and the suspect left shoe prints in the wet cement. The detective thinks the size 6 shoe print with the distinctive outline of the newest Stuart Wietzman Empire boots is the suspects and asks the shoe saleswomen for a printout of all the women who bought that shoe in the last week.
However, the detective didn't realize the suspect would NEVER wear a new pair of three hundred dollars boots on wet cement, and had left her treadless Nike's on! The boots are a red herring.
The best mystery writers use red herrings to keep the detective on his toes and baffle the reader. However, the writer must be sure to also put real clues along with the red herrings. You could even put the real clues and the red herring in the same scene, and have your reader try to puzzle out which clue is real, and which one is fishy.
Red herrings are an essential part of your mystery plot.. Use them judiciously to baffle your readers and keep them interested!
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About the Author
Mary Casey is an author on
http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Fiction Writing.
