After talking about foreshadowing last week, I can’t help but bring up its counterpart: red herrings. While red herrings are instrumental in thrillers and mysteries, they can also play a big role in other genres. Today, I want to go over the definition, purpose, and mechanics of writing them well.
Definition
A red herring is a false clue or a piece of information that is misleading. Think of it like a magic show. The magician’s goal is to point at everything except what he is really doing so you don’t see how he does the trick. Misdirection. The audience is supposed to focus on his flourishes and miss the real story. It’s the same with red herrings. You want readers to focus on the things you point out instead of the real clues for the finale.
The key to red herrings is to mislead the readers, not withhold information. If you want the aunt to be the murderer in your mystery, you can’t ignore her existence until the end and then state she did it. She needs to be present and in the thick of things all the way through the story. In order to keep the reader from suspecting her, you place red herrings around her so the reader will misinterpret the information in a way that makes another person look guilty.
Purpose
The purpose of a red herring is to lead the readers to a false conclusion, distracting them from the real plot so the ending is shocking. They work hand in hand with foreshadowing to form great plot twists. While foreshadowing leaves clues about what is to come, red herrings are there to draw attention and distract from what will happen. Foreshadowing helps create a satisfying ending, and red herrings make a surprise ending. When used well together, red herrings and foreshadowing produce a memorable conclusion to any story.
Mechanics
So how do you use red herrings well? It isn’t as simple as it sounds. Readers nowadays are savvy and know what to look for when it comes to clues. They know, if you mention something in a book, there’s a reason. You can’t have a murder mystery and then just put random weapons in every scene to disguise the real murder weapon. If you want the readers to feel satisfied at the end, everything in the story must have a purpose.
Every red herring must central to the story beyond just misdirection. If you take out a red herring, then the plot should fall apart. For instance, if your red herring for the murder weapon is a kitchen knife (throwing suspicion on the chef), it must have a purpose in the story besides just distracting from the hunting knife that really killed the victim. Perhaps the kitchen knife was used to pry open a loose floor board where the killer hid the hunting knife. Then it has an important reason for being in the scene, but it also distracts from the gardener’s hunting knife that really killed the victim.
Examples
Let’s move away from my murder mystery example and look at some examples stories where red herrings were used effectively.
Frozen
In the movie Frozen, you have the character Hans who attended Queen Elsa’s coronation and became Princess Anna’s love interest. Hans is a red herring. The audience is lead to believe he is Anna’s true love who will fight to save her and the kingdom. That’s how all the princess fairytales seem to go. However, we then meet Kristoff, another potential true love. So, now the audience thinks Kristoff is the love that will break the curse and save the kingdom. Then the movie hits the finale, and the audience learns the sisters’ love for each other saves the day.
Both Hans and Kristoff were red herrings, yet both men play important roles in the movie that would make the plot collapse without them. If there was no Hans, there would be no villain. Without Kristoff, Anna wouldn’t have lived long enough to save the kingdom. They are both red herrings yet integral to the plot.
Harry Potter
Another example is from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry is given a pocket sneakoscope that is supposed to detect when someone was untrustworthy. Ron tells Harry that it might be broken because it was lighting up in warning at dinner with his family, and Ron trusts his family. But Ron says that his twin brothers put beetles in their dad’s dinner so that might be why it went off. The twin’s scheme is a red herring, but it’s important for character development. We always see the twins pulling off stunts as part of the story. Without them, a lot of the humor in the series would vanish.
After that incident, we see the sneakoscope go off numerous times. The characters keep saying it’s broken or noticing someone doing something untrustworthy nearby. There is one red herring after another to explain away the trinket’s behavior. In the end though, we realize that it was detecting Scabbers, Ron’s pet, who was untrustworthy since he was Peter Pettigrew in disguise.
Final Thoughts
Red herrings seem simple in explanation but can be hard to write well. Just remember, you want to misdirect the reader’s attention, not withhold important information. Also, make sure your red herrings have a purpose besides just distracting the readers from the real clues. Every detail should have a purpose in the story and not just be there for the writer’s convenience.
Thanks for reading!
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