Irony and Deception as Literary Devices - Part 2


Part one looked at different types of irony writers can use – a very subtle way of duping or manipulating the reader.  Outright deception can also be used to good effect, which is very popular among crime, thriller and mystery writers. There are different types writers can use, but the main ones are misdirection, red herrings and outright lies.

Throughout a story, writers often create deliberate deception. They do so by manipulating reality to mislead their readers to add a different perspective or heighten tension of conflict and to create drama. False clues help to achieve this.

Misdirection is an effective way to direct the reader from what is really happening. This effect is created by a false reality. For instance, writers can deliberately lead the reader into a wrong assumption whereby a character jumps to the wrong conclusion and accuses another character of perpetrating a terrible crime. The reader will most likely also think the same thing, until later in the story when its revealed that the accused character was innocent all along. This kind of misdirection can be achieved by planting false clues, as opposed to real clues. It’s a subtle way of manipulating the reader.

Another common source of deception is the red herring, which is created by the writer in order to divert the reader’s focus from the truth. Red herrings are a fallacy. They deliberately wrong foot the reader and force them into making false assumptions about the story or the characters in order to keep them guessing. They are effective by placing false clues or by creating ambiguity to deceive the reader.

The red herring acts in opposition to the clues dotted throughout the narrative. Just when the reader thinks they have it all the clues figured out, the writer reveals the red herring to stump them. The idea is to stop the reader becoming too comfortable with the story. Step by step, certain clues are laid throughout the narrative, however, not all of them lead to a truth. Some are deceptive. Some may only be half-truths, while some can throw the reader completely off the scent.

They work well in crime novels and thrillers because writers exploit the reader’s need to follow the clues and find out who the perpetrator is, but the red herring – or false clues – tempt the reader into making the wrong conclusions. So, for instance, writers can make it seem like one of the characters is the villain because of his suspicious behaviour or actions, but in truth that isn’t the case. The fallacy of this creates the red herring.  Another example might be that all the clues from a crime seem to point towards one of the “obvious” characters, thus deflecting focus from the real villain.

The same is true when lies are presented as truth – whether this is shown in the narrative or through the characters and their actions. Characters are very good at lying, after all, but writers don’t always exploit this fact. Keep the reader guessing whether something is a lie or the truth. Don’t give them an easy ride. Use a character’s tone, body language and actions to veil the truth.

These types of deception don’t have to be confined to mystery, thriller or crime novels either – they can be used in any genre. Take every opportunity to deceive, misdirect and lie to the reader. The narrative is much more interesting for it.

Next week: How do you know when you’ve finished your story?

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter & Novel Lengths

Just how long should a chapter be? What’s the best length? And does a novel have to fit into a set amount of words? These are just two of the most common questions asked by writers.   They assume they have to work to a strict template of X amount of words and X amount of chapters, usually because most novels have around 30 or 40 chapters and around 80,000 words.   Novel Lengths Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths - novel lengths are dictated by the story itself, not the writer or the editor or a specific written formula.   Secondly, writers don’t have to fit their word count into generic set amounts.   Again, the story will dictate how long the novel will be. It’s also worth knowing the different types of novels that work well with different word counts.   Uncomplicated stories containing minimal characters tend to be short – usually around 20,000 to 60,000 words.   These are called novellas. Longer, more complex stories, which contain a handful of main characters and periphe
Read more

What Makes a Story Dark?

If you’re a horror writer or you love to write dark, psychological stories and thrillers, or moralistic tales, this is the one question that needs an answer. Wanting a dark story and writing one are two different things, so how do you actually make a story dark? To answer that you first have to understand what is meant by ‘dark’. We usually define ‘dark’ as quantifiable elements that we know and are familiar with, but it’s more than that. Dark doesn’t necessarily mean scary or gory with a crazy psychopath going around chopping people into bits. Instead we have to think of ‘dark ‘as anything outside our accepted rose-tinted reality. Dark is the underbelly of our society; it’s the handling of ideas, themes, social issues and behaviours that would be seen as morally unacceptable. It’s less about fictional monsters but more about the real monsters that lurk in the shadows, something that is underscored by our fears and anxieties. It’s the unknown, because the things we don’t know
Read more

Cadence in Writing

Following on from last week’s article about purple prose, cadence – something many writers haven’t heard of – is something that writers aspire to but don’t always manage it, yet it’s the fundamental difference between poetic language and over-indulgent, flowery prose. Cadence in writing is a sense of rhythm and pace, it lifts the narrative from the page and makes it dynamic; brings a certain tempo to the words and sentences; it’s what makes prose poetic, layered and fluid without it being extravagant. Cadence makes the writing visual and evocative, and to an extent, beautiful . It’s an important element in fiction writing, because without it, narrative certainly won’t be as effective. Writers don’t actively think about cadence – they simply want to write and get the words down. It’s not until later, while editing, that they realise that a sense of rhythm might be missing from their narrative. When poetic description works, it’s called cadence. When it doesn’t work, people ref
Read more