Red Herrings

by Mary Allen

A red herring is a distraction from the relevant, a misleading clue which ratchets up the suspense and keeps us guessing. Frankly, it’s hard to surprise others so a successful red herring is a delight that adds depth to a story. For example, think of when you realized the truth in “Sixth Sense”. Bet you didn’t see it coming. I didn’t and I usually have it the plot line figured out.

Genres that rely on red herrings are mysteries, suspense, and thrillers. For instance, perhaps the guy we think is evil isn’t so bad and the one we thought was good suddenly shows his true devilish bent. (Gasp!) This throws the hero deeper into danger.

Red herrings are not just for mysteries. Recently I read a book entitled “Something Mis ing” by Matthew Dicks. A thief obtains long term clients, catalogs their lives, and takes for his personal use items they would never miss such as extra rolls of toilet paper, boxes of macaroni or unopened salad dressing that is about to expire. Of course, being a thief, he does take the occasional big ticket item like a never-used silver platter. Problems arise when his attachment and loyalty to his clients compel him to intervene in their lives. How does he stop a violent crime, protect his client, and maintain his anonymity?

In this scenario Dicks drops a false clue that caused me to think I knew how our thief, Martin, is going to accomplish this noble deed. Then, it all goes sideways and much to my satisfaction, the problem is solved in a manner I never anticipated.

Red herrings are a bit of literary magic.

In some formulaic stories, such as romance, red herrings are not much used. We want the boy to get the girl, but even then the twists and turns they take to that destination can afford opportunity for misdirection. Maybe she chooses the guy you wouldn’t pick. In a nice little historical, “A Promise for Ellie” a bride to be is rethinking her upcoming nuptials to the boy she’s always loved. In this case, I thought I had the red herring by its sly little tail. Instead I picked the wrong guy. I should’ve seen it coming.

My chosen genre is women's fiction. In my upcoming release entitled, “God’s Love Most Gentle”, a pregnant missionary suffers from PTSD after witnessing her husband’s murder. For a while her dark secrets pull her further from God and deeper into trouble. Offsetting this is the comic relief of her widowed mother’s romances and I've added a little twist on the side. When it happens you say, 

and search the story to verify the facts. I hope my readers will enjoy it.

Red herrings are a bit of literary magic. Do you add them to your writing whatever your genre? What popular story held your favorite red herring? Perhaps an obscure story now stands out in your mind because of its ability to misdirect and thus surprise you. Tell me. I’d love to know it. 

Literary Devices

Where does the color, the vibrancy in your writing come from? How do you visualize that setting, that perfect place for your story to take on life and travel to the end of the last page? Do you use simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia?

Is there a book somewhere that tells the writer what to say and how to say it? Are there examples I can follow and make my writing come alive? Out of the mountain of books on my shelves to tell me how to write and how to build my characters, one stands out above the rest. The Bible.

Look at the Psalms for vivid dynamic writing. I wish I would have said, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” Having tons of hunters in my family, that one sentence from Psalm 42 stirs a dramatic vision for me of a frantic animal, being shot at, running hard, finally finding a creek where it can get a swallow of water before it continues running again. (Bambi embodies all deer for me. You shoot a deer and you’ve shot Bambi.)

He goes on to say, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” What a striking way to describe the need of the human soul for God.

Verse 3 says, “My tears have been my food day and night while men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’”

Read down further into verse 7. “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.”

Don’t stop at the Psalms. Look at Proverbs 1:20 where the abstract concept of wisdom is described. “Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares.” Proverbs 10:11, “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.”

Isaiah is one of the most colorful prophets to me. See how he describes God’s love for Israel and the promises in that love? Isaiah 43:2 reads, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Did Isaiah mean that literally, or was he using a literary tool to imprint that thought in our minds?

What literary devices do you see mentioned in the above words? Better yet, what devices can you find in the scriptures today?

Donna L. Rich