I'm setting a book right now, and the author keeps doing something that profoundly annoys me: trying to create tension by saying or showing that there is some Big Secret
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Stupid secrets ('oh, he cannot love me because I once farted in public') make me put down books. On the other hand, I am not overfond of suspense, either - I prefer to ride along with the character as events unfold, not learn early on what the antagonist plans and then wait for the train wreck to happen.
I am willing to make an exception for the Sherlock Holmes type of mystery, where the detective goes 'the letter confirmed my suspicions. I pocketed it, and took it to the meeting' - but that's the only exception.
What can also work for me is a gradual uncovering of backstory if it influences the present - gradually peeling back the character's past that he has been hiding from everybody.
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I'm sure you know Beyond Heaving Bosoms, Sarah Wendell & Candy Tan? They are wonderfully hilarious on the subject of the Big Secret.
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I am willing to make an exception for the Sherlock Holmes type of mystery, where the detective goes 'the letter confirmed my suspicions. I pocketed it, and took it to the meeting' - but that's the only exception.
What can also work for me is a gradual uncovering of backstory if it influences the present - gradually peeling back the character's past that he has been hiding from everybody.
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