Lies & Secrets—The Lifeblood of Great Fiction

Image courtesy of Nebraska Oddfish via Flickr Creative Commons

Image courtesy of Nebraska Oddfish via Flickr Creative Commons

It’s tempting for us to create “perfect” protagonists and “pure evil” antagonists, but that’s the stuff of cartoons, not great fiction. Every strength has an array of corresponding weaknesses, and when we understand these soft spots, generating conflict becomes easier. Understanding character arc becomes simpler. Plotting will fall into place with far less effort.

All stories are character-driven. Plot merely serves to change characters from a lowly protagonist into a hero….kicking and screaming along the way. Plot provides the crucible.

One element that is critical to understand is this:

Everyone Has Secrets

To quote Dr. Gregory House, “Everybody lies.”

All good stories hinge on secrets.

I have bodies under my porch.

Okay, not all secrets in our fiction need to be THIS huge.

Secret #1—“Real” Self Versus “Authentic” Self

We all have a face we show to the world, what we want others to see. If this weren’t true then my author picture would have me wearing a Call of Duty t-shirt, yoga pants and a scrunchee, not a beautifully lighted photograph taken by a pro.

We all have faces we show to certain people, roles we play. We are one person in the workplace, another with family, another with friends and another with strangers. This isn’t us being deceptive in a bad way, it’s self-protection and it’s us upholding societal norms. This is why when Grandma starts discussing her bathroom routine, we cringe and yell, “Grandma! TMI! STOP!”

No one wants to be trapped in a long line at a grocery store with the total stranger telling us about her nasty divorce. Yet, if we had a sibling who was suffering, we’d be wounded if she didn’t tell us her marriage was falling apart.

Yet, people keep secrets. Some more than others.

In fact, if we look at The Joy Luck Club the entire book hinges on the fact that the mothers are trying to break the curses of the past by merely changing geography. Yet, as their daughters grow into women, they see the faces of the same demons wreaking havoc in their daughters’ lives…even though they are thousands of miles away from the past (China).

The mothers have to reveal their sins, but this will cost them the “perfect version of themselves” they’ve sold the world and their daughters (and frankly, themselves).

The daughters look at their mothers as being different from them. Their mothers are perfect, put-together, and guiltless. It’s this misperception that keeps a wall between them. This wall can only come down if the external facades (the secrets) are exposed.

Secret #2—False Face

Characters who seem strong, can, in fact, be scared half to death. Characters who seem to be so caring, can in fact be acting out of guilt or control, not genuine concern for others. We all have those fatal weaknesses, and most of us don’t volunteer these blemishes to the world.

In fact, we might not even be aware of them. It’s why shrinks are plentiful and paid well.

The woman whose house looks perfect can be hiding a month’s worth of laundry behind the Martha Stewart shower curtains. Go to her house and watch her squirm if you want to hang your coat in her front closet. She wants others to believe she has her act together, but if anyone opens that coat closet door, the pile of junk will fall out…and her skeletons will be on public display.

Anyone walking toward her closets or asking to take a shower makes her uncomfortable because this threatens her false face.

Watch any episode of House and most of the team’s investigations are hindered because patients don’t want to reveal they are not ill and really want attention, or use drugs, are bulimic, had an affair, are growing marijuana in their attics, etc.

Secret #3—False Guilt

Characters can be driven to right a wrong they aren’t even responsible for. In Winter’s Bone Ree Dolly is driven to find her father before the bail bondsman takes the family land and renders all of them homeless.

Ree is old enough to join the Army and walk away from the nightmare, but she doesn’t. She feels a need to take care of the family and right a wrong she didn’t commit. She has to dig in and dismantle the family secrets (the crime ring entrenched in her bloodline) to uncover the real secret—What happened to her father?

She has to keep the family secret (otherwise she could just go to the cops) to uncover the greater, and more important secret. She keeps the secret partly out of self-preservation, but also out of guilt and shame.

Be a GOOD Secret-Keeper

This is one of the reasons I HATE superfluous flashbacks. Yes, we can use flashbacks. They are a literary device, but like the prologue, they get botched more often than not.

Oh, but people want to know WHY my character is this way or does thus-and-such.

Here’s the thing, The Spawn wants cookie sprinkles for breakfast. Just because he WANTS something, doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for him. Don’t tell us WHY. Reveal pieces slowly, but once secrets are out? Tension dissipates. Tension is key to maintaining story momentum. We WANT to know WHY, but it might not be good for us.

The Force was more interesting before it was EXPLAINED.

Secret #4–The Lies We Tell Ourselves

Character arc is very often birthed from the biggest lies of all—the lies we tell ourselves. Your protagonist in the beginning should be raw an unformed. She has not yet been through the crucible (plot) that will fire out her impurities. Many of these “impurities” are the lies she tells herself.

I don’t need anyone’e help.

I am fine on my own.

I don’t have a problem.

These self-delusions are the biggest reason that your protagonist would fail if pitted against the antagonist in the beginning.

One of my all-time favorite movies is Army of Darkness. Even a silly low-budget movie takes advantage of the self-delusion. Ash is transported into another world where a great evil has awoken and seeks the Necronomicon (which is his only way back home).

Ash is a selfish ass who cares only about himself. He tells himself that others don’t matter, that he doesn’t really care about them and that he’s fine on his own. And he believes his own BS.

The challenges he faces (and often creates because of his poor character) change him and reveal that he was really lying to himself. He does kinda dig being the hero and he really does care about those around him. The lone-wolf maverick rises to be a leader who unites a frightened and divided people against the forces of darkness.

Good? Bad?

Screen Shot 2016-03-28 at 10.44.14 AM

Everybody LIES

They can be small lies, “No, I wasn’t crying. Allergies.” They can be BIG lies, “I have no idea what happened to your father. I was playing poker with Jeb.” Fiction is one of the few places that LIES ARE GOOD. LIES ARE GOLD.

Fiction is like dating. If we tell our date our entire life story on Date #1? Mystery lost and good luck with Date #2.

When it comes to your characters, make them lie. Make them hide who they are. They need to slowly reveal the true self, and they will do everything to defend who they believe they are. Remember the inciting incident creates a personal extinction. The protagonist will want to return to the old way, even though it isn’t good for them.

Resist the urge to explain.

Feel free to write everything out in detail for your own use…but then HIDE that baby from the reader. BE A SECRET-KEEPER. Secrets rock. Secrets make FABULOUS fiction.

What are your thoughts? Questions? What are some great works of fiction that show a myriad of lies from small to catastrophic? Could you possibly be ruining your story tension by explaining too much?

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26 comments

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  1. Reblogged this on Jens Thoughts and commented:
    Fantastic post! I feel the character conflict and arc make or break a book.

  2. Thank you, Kristen. Great post. I reblogged on Jen’s Thoughts https://jenowenby.wordpress.com/.

  3. Reblogged this on ugiridharaprasad.

  4. Another great post, and Ash rocks.

  5. Reblogged this on Amy Reece and commented:
    I will be a secret-keeper…I will be a secret-keeper…I will…

  6. Reblogged this on Erotic Vampire and commented:
    Loved this blog – no explanation needed:).

  7. Reblogged this on howmyspiritsings and commented:
    The prolific writer this week is not one of my own. This week I am sharing a blog by Kristen Lamb about why we should develop characters with both lies and secrets.

  8. I agree with you that “perfect” protagonists are boring, but I disagree with the pure evil antagonist. I’m tired of the “Oh, I’m just so misunderstood” or the wishy-washy “I’m not really bad, but someone killed my puppy when I was little.” Give me a break! I want my villains raw, devious, intelligent, sadistic, and evil.

  9. Loved House! Everybody lies. So true!

  10. Great post! Years ago, I read The Secret by Julie Garwood – it was riveting because of the secrets, and how each character behaved because of it.

  11. “Fiction is like dating” I like that phrase and comparison.

    • jeff on March 28, 2016 at 3:57 pm
    • Reply

    This is the craft we are engaged in. Well said.

  12. I think you may have just shown me the light. I get it now. I think I know why my novel-in-progress wasn’t working for me. I revealed the secrets too soon. So I started thinking about it and realized that maybe it’s stumbling where it is, because it’s not supposed to be a novel. There’s a couple of big clumsy, paisley-tuxedo kind of awkward chapters and I think that’s why.
    Thanks, Kristen!
    (btw, I love Ash and House too!)
    https://dragonquillca.wordpress.com/

  13. Great post <3

    • Mary on March 29, 2016 at 5:16 am
    • Reply

    Hmmmm – and then there’s that moment reading your blog where I go, “But I don’t actually reveal her secrets at all! Bad author! Go back and make those secrets juicier. And then tease your readers by revealing them little by little.” You know – rather than dating – I’d like my stories to be like the dance of the seven veils. But then my genre is erotic romance; so it kinda stands to reason….

  14. This is great. I see a lot of what i was doing in my writing all along. I had them in there because they made the story work but it’s nice to read why it works.

  15. You’re right- I think I am revealing too much, especially coupled with the info on deeper POV (trying to work on showing instead of telling). Something to address in revision. Thanks!

  16. excellent advice–which I will be stealing to reblog on ficwriterwithablog.wordpress.com.

    • rachel thompson on March 29, 2016 at 5:15 pm
    • Reply

    good one

  17. Secret 1 reminded me of a favorite moment from my last job. I was speaking to a subordinate and, in a moment of candor, i dropped an f bomb. “Frank, I didn’t know you swear.” I couldn’t stop laughing. Anyone who knows me would have had the same reaction. But this lady only knew me as her boss and I took being a supervisor seriously. Me swearing was totally out of character for the Frank she knew.

    • KFD Wilk on March 31, 2016 at 1:45 pm
    • Reply

    Your blog is one of the few I take time to read regularly. Real, useful information, well yet briefly stated.

  18. This was awesome information!!!

  19. Wow – great post and great timing my WIP is about trying to unravel secrets from the past where there is no one left to tell the whole truth. At the same time my MC begins to note little cracks in her present….

  20. Reblogged this on Writer's Treasure Chest and commented:
    Kristen Lamb has published a post about lies and secrets in the fiction world. I think it’s a very helpful post when it comes to character conflict. Thank you so much Kristen.

  21. Beautiful foto

  22. This is an awesome read!! GREAT POST!!!

  1. […] Source: Lies & Secrets—The Lifeblood of Great Fiction […]

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