WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.610 --> 00:00:11.049 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Okay, Hello, everyone. We will start in a couple of minutes 2 00:00:11.070 --> 00:00:14.189 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: to get to let everyone get in. 3 00:00:14.390 --> 00:00:17.940 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: But yeah, if you want to share 4 00:00:19.190 --> 00:00:27.410 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: in in the chat box where you're joining from, and your name that would be great. 5 00:00:35.220 --> 00:00:37.640 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: So we have Ellen from LA. 6 00:00:39.120 --> 00:00:40.999 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Shay from St. Louis. 7 00:00:41.580 --> 00:00:44.250 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Mara from Virginia. Hello. 8 00:00:45.430 --> 00:00:48.819 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Mark! From Chicago. Great! Great! 9 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:50.900 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Oh. 10 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:55.599 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: there's a lot of people joining, so goes faster than I can read. But 11 00:00:56.220 --> 00:01:01.359 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Hello! Everyone Hello, Michelle! From South Carolina. 12 00:01:01.670 --> 00:01:03.790 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Julie! I'm from 13th 13 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:05.220 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Virginia. 14 00:01:05.880 --> 00:01:09.139 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Nancy as well from Virginia bree from Canada. 15 00:01:10.433 --> 00:01:11.599 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Thank you. 16 00:01:13.810 --> 00:01:18.189 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: So hello from Scotland here, which is 17 00:01:19.237 --> 00:01:21.860 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: I don't think I've seen anyone 18 00:01:21.950 --> 00:01:24.149 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: joining from Scotland yet. 19 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:29.870 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: We'll start in 20 00:01:30.300 --> 00:01:31.260 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: and just 21 00:01:31.750 --> 00:01:36.319 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: say a second. So let let's let people 22 00:01:36.510 --> 00:01:37.690 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: join 23 00:01:38.250 --> 00:01:42.090 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: whoever is is joining last minute 24 00:01:51.830 --> 00:01:54.810 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: cool, so I will start 25 00:01:56.120 --> 00:02:01.170 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: so welcome everyone to another crime writers. Week session. 26 00:02:01.320 --> 00:02:03.769 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: If you can see and hear me. 27 00:02:03.810 --> 00:02:07.770 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: please drop your name and location in the chat as you've been doing. 28 00:02:09.380 --> 00:02:17.739 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: I will share some links with you in the chat shortly, and we will start the session as well in in just a moment. 29 00:02:21.890 --> 00:02:23.070 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: but sorry 30 00:02:23.670 --> 00:02:31.739 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: sorry we had some some technical problems with the with the presentation, so I will have to scroll. But please bear with me 31 00:02:32.739 --> 00:02:45.599 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: the replace will be added to the hub once we have done processing them in zoom, so this could know this may not be immediately, but don't worry. There will be added 32 00:02:45.720 --> 00:02:47.320 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: as soon as possible. 33 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:57.910 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: and all the replace will be available on the providing a community community page for all members to view by June 28. 34 00:02:59.950 --> 00:03:09.980 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: So for everyone, for for anyone who's in and who's premium or premium pro subscriber. 35 00:03:10.780 --> 00:03:25.248 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: just to to let you know that Friday sessions are limited exclusively to premium and premium pro users. 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With all all our events, you will be able to see as well replace from from previous writers. Weeks, if you knew. If you want to have a look as well. 42 00:04:33.370 --> 00:04:37.570 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: So if you remind us for for the session, and we'll we'll go 43 00:04:38.100 --> 00:04:39.540 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: over them again 44 00:04:39.960 --> 00:04:46.009 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: later. Please use the Qa. Box. If you have any questions for our speaker. 45 00:04:46.090 --> 00:05:06.740 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: If you'd like to chat with with other viewers, you can use the chat, and you can also send your your questions in the in in the Qa. Box, and if you want to comment anything with us, you can also drop us a message, but 46 00:05:07.145 --> 00:05:22.150 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: check that you are sending it to everyone. If you want to chat with with other viewers or speakers, if you want to chat directly with us. We'll we'll share the links to our offers 47 00:05:22.150 --> 00:05:29.920 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: from our speakers as well, which are available on on the crime Week hub and in our participants guide. 48 00:05:32.078 --> 00:05:35.269 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Yeah. So before we start. 49 00:05:36.590 --> 00:05:50.128 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: I I want as well to to thank Savannah for joining us. We love having you here, Savannah. So I'm very excited to introduce you to Savannah. 50 00:05:50.690 --> 00:05:59.709 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Savannah. Gilbury is a certified developmental editor and book coach who helps fiction. Authors write edit and publish stories, that work. 51 00:05:59.850 --> 00:06:27.539 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: She's also the host of the top rated fiction. Writing made easy, podcast where she delivers, weekly episodes, full of simple, actionable and step by step, strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. When she's not busy crafting her own stories. You can find Savannah curled up with a good book, a cozy blanket, and her 3 furry partners in crime. Thank you for coming, Savannah. We're thrilled to have you back. 52 00:06:27.980 --> 00:06:41.380 Savannah Gilbo: Thank you so much for having me, and I have all 3 of my dogs underneath my desk right now, so if you hear them. Don't be surprised if you've ever seen me present before. You know that one of them likes to dream. And yep as he's dreaming, so we'll probably hear that. 53 00:06:41.839 --> 00:07:07.330 Savannah Gilbo: But I'm so excited to chat with you guys today about red herrings. I tuned into some of the amazing presentations yesterday. Put a yes in the chat if you did as well. And if you're loving Crime Week I think it's so fun to stay focused on one genre, you know, for a whole week. How cool is that? So I'm very excited to see the rest of the presentations. And I'm gonna go ahead and give mine to you today. So we're gonna share. 54 00:07:07.666 --> 00:07:12.379 Savannah Gilbo: I'm gonna share my screen for you guys. Hopefully, you can see that. Now. 55 00:07:12.772 --> 00:07:35.700 Savannah Gilbo: Please let me know if you cannot. So we're gonna talk about red herrings. Aka, how to mislead and surprise your readers. And this is a super fun topic. It's 1 of my favorite topics. So we are going to nerd out a little bit. Let's see so couple of housekeeping things. If you wanna connect with me on social media. If you happen to take pictures of watching your 56 00:07:35.700 --> 00:08:00.669 Savannah Gilbo: are watching this training today and want to share it with me. You can share any of your free friends with me, posting in your stories, and I will reshare them on my page. So I'm just@savannah.gilbo on Instagram. I also have a quick little gift for you today, if you would like to just sit back, relax, and you know, not. Have to take all the notes you can go ahead and download this cheat sheet. So it kind of recaps the key points of things I'm gonna talk about today. And then 57 00:08:00.670 --> 00:08:18.200 Savannah Gilbo: there's also a page for you to write your notes in if you would like to do that as well. I think Amelio is gonna put this in the chat for us. But it's Savannah Gilbercom. Forward. Slash! Pwa! So you can grab that now. I will also remind you later. Thanks, Marian, for putting that in the chat. 58 00:08:18.520 --> 00:08:34.249 Savannah Gilbo: and Amelio, already kind of, gave me the greatest introduction. So I am a book coach I'm, an editor. I have a podcast called Fiction writing made easy, and my signature course is called Notes to Novel, and that just helps get people from idea to outline to finish draft. 59 00:08:34.250 --> 00:08:58.699 Savannah Gilbo: So big picture introduction to me like I said, we're gonna talk about how to write effective red herrings. So writing effective red herrings alongside true clues so that you can misdirect and surprise readers and pull off some really cool plot twists. So no matter what kind of fiction you're writing, I know most of us are here because we're writing crime. But no matter what kind of fiction you're writing. 60 00:08:58.710 --> 00:09:16.720 Savannah Gilbo: there's probably going to be some things that you want to keep from your readers until it's time to unveil it and surprise them. And I think we can all agree that sometimes this is easier said than done right? We we can understand things in theory, but sometimes it's hard to put that into practice. So 61 00:09:16.988 --> 00:09:40.599 Savannah Gilbo: the number one rule, I like to say is, no matter no matter which honor you're writing. If we wanna pull off a well done surprise, we need to play fair with our readers from the start. So I'm gonna teach you how to do that today. But playing fair means we give them the whole truth while misdirecting them from the truth at the same time. So you've probably read books that do this. And you're probably amazed how all the clues were there. And 62 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:42.800 Savannah Gilbo: yeah, you were still surprised. Right? 63 00:09:43.030 --> 00:10:10.649 Savannah Gilbo: So we're gonna talk about how to do that. Because again, easier said than done, and we're gonna focus on using those red herrings to distract people from the truth. So what we're gonna do, we're gonna talk about what our red herrings we're gonna talk about. Why do people use red herrings and what the benefit is, we're gonna look at a case study of sharp objects. Put a yes, in the chat. If you're familiar with the story, if you like the story. I love the use of red herrings in the story. I think it's super fun. 64 00:10:10.820 --> 00:10:30.109 Savannah Gilbo: We're gonna look at another case study from Harry Potter in the prisoner of as command. This is one of my personal favorite examples of red herrings. Give me a yes, in the chat, if you like this story, and the red herrings there. Then we're gonna look at my top 5 tips for writing red herrings. So I'm gonna summarize everything and give you 5 65 00:10:30.110 --> 00:10:55.020 Savannah Gilbo: tips that. I wish I knew when I was starting to do this. In my own writing, and at the end hopefully, we will have some time for QA. So if I do go a little quick today, it's because I have the cheat sheet for you that recaps the key points. There will be a replay, and you will also get access to these slides. So bear with me if I go fast, I wanna have time for QA. Okay. So I'm gonna go ahead and pull myself off Video. So you guys can scroll 66 00:10:55.020 --> 00:11:03.690 Savannah Gilbo: without me being in the way and we will just dive into it. So what are red herrings? Right? That's what we're here to talk about. 67 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:27.530 Savannah Gilbo: Red herrings are basically things that lead readers and characters down a false path or otherwise direct, distract them from what's really going on in the plot. So they're a way to distract and kind of lead our readers astray while playing fair with them, and they're most often found in mysteries and thrillers, but they can really be used in any kind of story which I think is really cool. 68 00:11:28.430 --> 00:11:52.409 Savannah Gilbo: So in a nutshell. Red herrings they're a type of foreshadowing. They are, you know. They're the things that readers pick up on, so that readers pick up on hints and clues, and they try to figure out what's going to happen next. We try to guess what's gonna happen, you know, before that final reveal. And it's really fun. And you know, not all the clues are gonna lead to the truth. Right? Some are true clues, some are false clues. 69 00:11:52.410 --> 00:12:17.309 Savannah Gilbo: Some are gonna be used to deceive the reader about what's coming. And in this case, in in that case, these false clues are red herrings. Okay? So hopefully, we have a good understanding of what they are. They can be anything in your story which I also think is pretty neat, so it can. A red herring can be a character that seems evil or suspicious. It can be an object that seems relevant or important. 70 00:12:17.310 --> 00:12:18.020 Savannah Gilbo: Horton 71 00:12:18.490 --> 00:12:24.079 Savannah Gilbo: red Herrings could be an event that seems significant to the story or the protagonist. 72 00:12:24.350 --> 00:12:41.829 Savannah Gilbo: They can even be clues that are placed by the antagonist, or some kind of secondary character that is maybe unknown to the reader and or the protagonist. That sends us all down the wrong path. So really, red herrings can be anything as long as they're distracting readers from the truth. 73 00:12:42.150 --> 00:12:49.220 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so I'll leave that up for a second cause. I just have this gut feeling. There are some scribblers that are trying really hard to write this down. Really quick. 74 00:12:49.400 --> 00:12:51.150 Savannah Gilbo: I'll take a sip of my water. 75 00:12:52.970 --> 00:13:18.619 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so different genres. I think this is. This is a cool thing to note different genres change how readers respond to red herrings. So in a true mystery, the purpose of red herrings are are to make the reader incorrectly guess what has already happened. So for writing a mystery, that central question, what we're making readers read on to find out is what happened or who done it right. So something happened. 76 00:13:18.670 --> 00:13:22.210 Savannah Gilbo: Red herrings distract us from the truth of what happened 77 00:13:22.220 --> 00:13:45.639 Savannah Gilbo: in a thriller. In most cases red herrings are used to make the reader incorrectly guess what is going to happen. So usually, you know, there could have been some kind of crime that was committed in a thriller. And there's evidence or assumption that another crime is coming down the pipeline. So, readers and the protagonist and detectives, and whoever we are led to incorrectly guess what is going to happen. 78 00:13:45.790 --> 00:13:54.130 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so I think this is important to note, because it helps us understand kind of the purpose of those red herrings in our books. 79 00:13:54.680 --> 00:14:10.440 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so why do we use red herrings? We kinda already went over this. But they help us to give readers that emotional experience they're looking for. So we like the puzzle of reading crime stories or any stories that use misdirection right? It's part of the the joy of reading these kind of books. 80 00:14:10.973 --> 00:14:21.950 Savannah Gilbo: They also help us create suspense in our stories by testing the protagonist abilities and decision making skills because we wanna see them parse through those true clues and false clues, right? 81 00:14:22.300 --> 00:14:43.740 Savannah Gilbo: And they can help us express character. So character on the page right, and create a rooting interest in our readers. So you know we we read, and we we empathize with the detective, or whoever's solving the crime right? We we want to see them parse through the true clues and false clues, and we root for them to succeed. So it helps create that bond. 82 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:58.297 Savannah Gilbo: And like, I said, we're gonna take a look at 2 case studies. So we're gonna look at sharp objects by Gillian Flynn and Harry Potter and the prisoner of Ascan. By Jk. Rowling, and I'm gonna try to give summaries. Because I know I saw in the chat. Some of us aren't 83 00:14:58.710 --> 00:15:13.240 Savannah Gilbo: You haven't read these, or it's been a while, so I will provide summaries, and we'll just walk through it together, because I want to show you how the author presented the truth, and then how the author presented the trail of red herrings to distract us from that truth. 84 00:15:13.380 --> 00:15:32.049 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so we are going to start with sharp objects. And we're just gonna see? You know how she did everything. So of course, this will include spoilers if you don't wanna see this part. Maybe you can mute and come back when we dig into Harry Potter, but it was published in 2,006. So I think we're probably okay. 85 00:15:32.451 --> 00:15:41.410 Savannah Gilbo: Also this trigger warning, I guess. Content warning. It talks about murder in this case. Study in the next one. So just a heads up 86 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:58.790 Savannah Gilbo: alright. So what happens in sharp objects. We'll go really quick through this. So Camille Preaker, she's our protagonist. She gets sent back to her hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri, to cover the story of 2 local girls. So one has been murdered and the other one has gone missing. 87 00:15:58.820 --> 00:16:07.130 Savannah Gilbo: Once she gets there, the missing girl's body is discovered in an alleyway in the middle of town. So now we have 2 murders, and it's clear that 88 00:16:07.400 --> 00:16:15.550 Savannah Gilbo: both of the girls were abused and murdered in similar ways, so they were strangled, and they had all of their teeth removed, but they were not sexually assaulted. 89 00:16:15.868 --> 00:16:23.821 Savannah Gilbo: The police are baffled by the crimes, but they think the perpetrator must be a local man, because who else would target young girls right? 90 00:16:24.140 --> 00:16:48.020 Savannah Gilbo: And then, while Camille's back home digging for information and trying to, you know, write articles and find the truth. She reconnects with her estranged mother, who is named Adora, and her 13 year old half sister, who's named Emma, and Camille has never had a good relationship with her mother, because her mother always preferred the younger sister Marian, who died due to an unspecific illness when they were young. 91 00:16:48.720 --> 00:17:14.240 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So as the story progresses, Camille realizes that something's not right with Adora, and she has an illness of her own Munch house and send them by proxy. So if you're not familiar with this, I'm probably gonna butcher it. But it's like taking care of someone who's not sick and kind of making them sick because of what what you're doing. So she, Camille, believes Mom is responsible for Marion's death in the past, and not only that she also is 92 00:17:14.270 --> 00:17:20.289 Savannah Gilbo: kind of suspicious that maybe Adora, the mom, is responsible for the murders of the 2 girls as well. 93 00:17:20.450 --> 00:17:31.459 Savannah Gilbo: So in the end of the story. Adora is charged with the murders of Marian, the the sister from the past, and the 2 girls in the present, and Emma is sent to live in Chicago with Camille. 94 00:17:31.460 --> 00:17:53.450 Savannah Gilbo: Emma, initially seems to be just adjusting nicely to her new circumstances, but soon after she starts going to her new school. A classmate is murdered, and 6 of her teeth have been pulled out. So, although Adora did kill Marian, Emma is the one who murdered the 2 girls in Wind Gap named Ann and Natalie. And I love this story so much, because even reading that I get a little bit of goosebumps, it's so cool. 95 00:17:53.830 --> 00:18:03.929 Savannah Gilbo: Alright. So what we want to do is, look, look at kind of what we're given because we want to see how the red herrings work right? So 96 00:18:03.930 --> 00:18:16.069 Savannah Gilbo: both the reader and the characters are led to believe that it's probably a local man who's responsible of the death. So they're in the story. They say. You know, it's usually a local man. It's usually, you know. 97 00:18:16.070 --> 00:18:42.060 Savannah Gilbo: whatever they have. They have a profile of who the who the person is so we're told that. And we believe that because what else would we believe? Right? So throughout the story, as Camille becomes more and more suspicious that Ann and Natalie's murder is a woman more specifically her old, her own mother. We start to believe that as well, because Camille believes that. And through her perspective. We're getting that evidence that points to that being true. 98 00:18:42.150 --> 00:19:00.729 Savannah Gilbo: So then, Adora gets arrested and the killing doesn't stop. So Camille has to, you know. Take a moment, and she realizes that Adora's not responsible for these deaths. So in this way she's a red herring for what happened in the present, someone that distracts us from the truth. 99 00:19:00.730 --> 00:19:14.850 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, and the truth is that Camille's sister Emma, is the one who killed the 2 girls, and all of the clues are in the text, and they're hidden in plain sight. So this is the part that I geek out on. And I think is super fun. So we're gonna break that down. 100 00:19:15.110 --> 00:19:18.429 Savannah Gilbo: So how did we? How how did we 101 00:19:18.660 --> 00:19:44.340 Savannah Gilbo: buy into the distraction about Adora? So that's the mother. So we learn pretty quickly. She's a hypochondriac, and she seeks out attention and loves to play the victim. So I think at 1 point Camille calls her an expert in injury and illness. So we're, you know. That's evidence, right? She tutored both Anna Natalie. So we learned that alongside Camille, and even considers them to be her friends, even though they're young girls. 102 00:19:44.340 --> 00:19:56.159 Savannah Gilbo: Anna. Natalie's parents both love Adora for this, but it seems a little weird and suspicious, and also Adora refuses to talk to Camille about these 2 girls so kind of interesting and suspicious. 103 00:19:57.050 --> 00:20:15.950 Savannah Gilbo: We then learn. Adora had a terrible relationship with her own mother, so we're told that her mother used to come into her room at night and pinch her that, and and peel off sunburns in front of her friends. So there's some weird things in Adora's past that just kind of add up to us, being suspicious of her right. 104 00:20:16.310 --> 00:20:40.010 Savannah Gilbo: So then, we keep going, and we learn that Adora has violent tendencies of her own, especially towards children. So she remembers seeing Adora bite a baby on its cheek when she was a little girl, and Camille thinks her mother might hate children or be jealous of them. So again, we're learning all this through Camille's perspective, and it's helping us bite into the fact that Adora could be guilty. 105 00:20:41.360 --> 00:21:01.210 Savannah Gilbo: Adora's friends say that she's been acting strange since this whole thing with the 2 girls happened, and maybe even before that, too. So Jackie, who's Adora's friend? Tells Camille. Go back to Chicago because Wind Gap is not safe for you. So it seems like the friends know something. And we're like, okay, something's going on here right? 106 00:21:01.911 --> 00:21:22.649 Savannah Gilbo: And then, of course, we learned that Adora has Munch House, and by proxy syndrome and was responsible for Marion's death. So this is a big piece of evidence, right? She's responsible for Camille's other sisters, Death, and we also learn that she's been medicating Emma and Camille. So all of this points to one version of events. 107 00:21:22.650 --> 00:21:45.600 Savannah Gilbo: We buy into it because all the facts are there. We're in Camille's perspective and things like that. But again turns out, Adora is not responsible for Anna Natalie's murder. However, she did commit a crime in the past, so all of the suspicion that's cast on. Adora hides the truth about who the real killer is, and therefore makes Adora the red herring in this story. 108 00:21:46.050 --> 00:21:55.919 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So let put a yes, in the chat. If you guys are following along, I know that was a lot. If how are you feeling? Let me know and then we're gonna dive into how? 109 00:21:56.359 --> 00:22:14.829 Savannah Gilbo: How we have hidden the truth about Emma. So this is Camille's sister. Okay, so Emma is the younger sister, and we learn that she's obsessed with her doll house, so she's very bothered by the fact that she can't get the floor in the mother's dollhouse room to look like her mother's real life room 110 00:22:14.830 --> 00:22:29.290 Savannah Gilbo: that has ivory floors. Okay, so we learn this, and then guess what all the girls that go missing are missing their teeth. And not only that, but the BA. The bodies were made pretty like dolls. Post mortem. Okay, so clues right? 111 00:22:29.785 --> 00:22:56.110 Savannah Gilbo: Emma likes to be the center of attention. So whenever Camille brings up the dead girls, Emma reacts by either dismissing the girls or drawing attention to herself. And we've already learned that Adora spent a lot of time with Natalie, and Anne, and Camille spends a lot of time with another young girl, Lily, which makes all 3 of these girls the perfect target for Emma, because she's jealous and wants to be the center of attention. So more clues 112 00:22:56.850 --> 00:23:23.840 Savannah Gilbo: we learn Emma's a bully, and we see this on the page. She's known for bullying all around the town, even through some of the adults, and we also see her bully Camille, even though she's only 13 years old. So that's kind of a big deal she bullied both Anne and Natalie as soon as Adora took an interest in them. So if we were paying attention to the timeline that's told to us, and we can kind of infer things if we're again really paying attention. 113 00:23:24.690 --> 00:23:46.960 Savannah Gilbo: We also know Emma likes to be in control of things, whether that's a situation or someone's attention or affection. So we see that she uses her sexuality and or her force to get things from people, and the detective describes the teeth pulling or the missing teeth in the victims as being about power and control. So again, another clue that links the truth to Emma. 114 00:23:47.540 --> 00:24:08.709 Savannah Gilbo: And then, finally, we learn that she is very fascinated by death and violence, and she likes hurting people and seeing others in pain. At 1 point I think she even tells Camille that hurting feels good, and we, you know, through the events, the story we're led to believe that means her own pain feels good, or you know she feels I don't know that she likes pain. 115 00:24:08.710 --> 00:24:22.729 Savannah Gilbo: but really she means hurting. Others feels good. So she hurts her friends. She likes seeing the pigs on the farm get hurt, and she likes hurting Camille. So again all the clues were there, and some of them are even there in the way that 116 00:24:22.730 --> 00:24:39.719 Savannah Gilbo: Gillian Flynn describes Amma. So Camille compares Amma's wet, shiny teeth to mosaic tiles. You might press into a table. And so even down to the language, we're associating Amma with teeth and floor tiles, which is interesting. Sorry you can hear my dog sparking. 117 00:24:40.510 --> 00:25:03.450 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so why is this an effective red herring? Right? Well, this is this red herring works, because Camille's perspective is limited by what the detectives and the locals will tell her so. She's biased because of her because of that, and because of her own history. With Adora plus, we learn Adora is guilty of her own crime. Right? So she killed Marian. It's not like she's an innocent party in all of this. 118 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:24.049 Savannah Gilbo: And then then, in the very end. Camille. Shock and horror at discovering that Emma is the real killer is something that's shared with the reader. And it works because all the clues were there. So you know, you find the bigger view. And then you're like, no way you start going back through the text. And you're just like, oh, my gosh! All the clues were there should have seen this coming that was brilliant right? 119 00:25:24.361 --> 00:25:38.449 Savannah Gilbo: So put a yes in the chat. Can you see how we're using Amma as or using a door as the red herring to cover Anna's Amma's tracks. Let me know if this makes sense, because then we're gonna move on to Harry Potter and the prisoner of Askvan. 120 00:25:38.460 --> 00:25:42.349 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, great. You guys are seeing that I'm gonna grab a sip of water real quick. 121 00:25:44.670 --> 00:25:45.570 Savannah Gilbo: Okay. 122 00:25:45.910 --> 00:26:05.330 Savannah Gilbo: look how cute this picture is. It's 1 of my favorite pictures. It's not my dog, but I love it. So now we're gonna look at how this shows up in a completely different story. Harry Potter and the prisoner of Ascan, so as a very fast recap for all of us who haven't read it in a while, or you know, for maybe never read it, I don't know. 123 00:26:05.330 --> 00:26:18.649 Savannah Gilbo: So after another miserable summer at the Dursleys, where Harry accidentally inflates. Aunt Marge runs away and sees a large black dog watching him from the bushes. Harry reunites with Hermione and the Weasley family at the leaky cauldron. 124 00:26:18.650 --> 00:26:28.319 Savannah Gilbo: Mr. Weasley warns Harry about the wizard, serious black, who is a convicted murderer, who escaped as command prison, and is believed to be hunting down Harry. 125 00:26:29.080 --> 00:26:41.799 Savannah Gilbo: Once they all arrive at hogwarts. The kids learn that the dementors which are the guards of the Ascann prison, once they learn they're patrolling the school grounds, or they learn that they're patrolling the school grounds hunting serious black. 126 00:26:41.820 --> 00:27:04.990 Savannah Gilbo: So you know, something seems scary here throughout the year. Harry sees several instances of that black dog which is thought to be the grim or a spectral death omen, and he's having a really hard time dealing with the presence of the dementors on school grounds, plus his friends aren't getting along right now. So their animal companions, crook, shanks, and scabbers are at each other's throats constantly. 127 00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:26.609 Savannah Gilbo: but then, during a visit to Hogsmead. Harry overhears in a conversation that serious black is the one who portrayed the potters to Voldemort and killed their mutual friend, Peter Pettigrew. Also, to make matters worse, serious, black is Harry's godfather. Harry is very distraught by this news, and vows to deal with serious black himself before serious can kill Harry. 128 00:27:26.610 --> 00:27:39.987 Savannah Gilbo: later serious breaks into hogwarts twice. But Harry remains unharmed in the climactic moment we learn that the dog that's been following Harry is actually serious. Black, so he's a wizard that can turn into an animal. 129 00:27:40.340 --> 00:27:58.209 Savannah Gilbo: and he's been tracking down the person who is really responsible for the death. Peter or the potters death. Peter Pedigrew, Aka Scavers, Ron's Rat. Pedigrew ultimately escapes but soda serious black. However, Harry now knows the truth about serious, and has gained an ally, and father figure in the process. 130 00:27:58.760 --> 00:28:15.040 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so obviously, lots going on here, right? But that's why it's fun. Okay? So both the readers and the characters are led to believe that serious black is a dangerous criminal and a murderer. Because, again, that's what we're told, and we are in Harry's perspective. So why would we believe anything else right. 131 00:28:15.350 --> 00:28:26.679 Savannah Gilbo: But then, throughout the story, we learn alongside, Harry that Sirius is responsible for his death, so he's believed to be responsible, and is now pursuing Harry to finish the job. 132 00:28:27.383 --> 00:28:34.489 Savannah Gilbo: But when Harry finally confronts serious black, he learns that serious isn't a killer at all, and he is a red herring 133 00:28:35.002 --> 00:28:51.119 Savannah Gilbo: and I see Katerina saying or sorry, let's see Nashira saying, why never watch Harry Potter. Okay. So he's believed to be responsible for the death because he was there and we'll see some some clues later. But basically he was set up to be the fall guy. 134 00:28:51.830 --> 00:28:53.810 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so 135 00:28:53.940 --> 00:29:12.599 Savannah Gilbo: here's what we learned about serious black, and this will answer your question hopefully. So 12 years ago a Fidelius charm was placed on the Potters House to keep their location a secret, but someone betrayed them to Voldemort, and this led to the murder of Harry's parents. So most people believe it was serious. Black, who betrayed them to Voldemort. 136 00:29:13.363 --> 00:29:40.110 Savannah Gilbo: We know that series. Black was in Godwrick's Hollow on the night of Harry's parents. Murder, and he was sentenced to life in Ascvan for the murder of 12 Muggles and a wizard named Peter Pettigrew. So we know this cause. It has happened the murder was said to be super violent and messy, and that all authorities could find of Peter Pettigrew was a blood-stained robe and a few fragments of a finger. Okay, so that's like we can say it's in the police report of the wizarding police. 137 00:29:40.746 --> 00:29:52.119 Savannah Gilbo: Lately, while an Ascan Sirius has been heard murmuring, He's at Hogwarts in his sleep. So it's believed that Sirius wants to kill Harry in order to finish what Voldemort started. 138 00:29:53.020 --> 00:30:08.049 Savannah Gilbo: We know Sirius Black has never tried to escape from Askaban prison until now, which is weird, and it's also weird that his escape coincides with the Weasly's return home from your or from Egypt, so we don't know why it coincides, but it does, and it's weird. 139 00:30:08.832 --> 00:30:12.709 Savannah Gilbo: And then later, we learn that Sirius is Harry Potter's godfather. 140 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:26.399 Savannah Gilbo: So based on a lot of these things serious. Black looks like a pretty convincing bad guy, right? We have no reason to believe that that this isn't true. We're told this. Harry's told this, and we, you know we believe it. Cause why wouldn't we? 141 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:39.609 Savannah Gilbo: But of course he's not out to get Harry. He's actually trying to protect Harry from the person who is responsible for his parents' death, which is Peter Pettigrew. So in this situation serious black is our red herring. 142 00:30:39.670 --> 00:30:52.839 Savannah Gilbo: And now I wanna look at what we learn about Ron's pet scabbers. Who is Peter Pettigrew? In an animeous form in his animal form, and how the clues point to the truth about him the whole time. 143 00:30:53.090 --> 00:31:05.070 Savannah Gilbo: Okay, so here's what we learned about scabbers, which is Ron's rat. We know he's been in the Weasley family for 12 years. Remember, we learned that Harry's parents were killed 12 years ago the night Peter Pettigrew was murdered. 144 00:31:05.510 --> 00:31:23.799 Savannah Gilbo: We learned that Scavers has been acting strange ever since the Weaselies got home from Europe, and what really happened is, upon getting home, Peter Pettigrew learned that Sirius Black had escaped, and he's been muttering, he's at hogwarts. So Peter knows he's talking about me. He's not talking about Harry, so he's acting strange 145 00:31:24.654 --> 00:31:41.300 Savannah Gilbo: Ron buys a rat tonic to help scabbers feel better because again, he's acting strange. But it doesn't work. And of course it doesn't work, because in the text we learned that some potions like this don't work on humans and scabbers isn't actually a rat. He's a human in animal form. 146 00:31:41.860 --> 00:31:48.830 Savannah Gilbo: We learn that scabbers is missing a toe on his front paw, and remember. The only thing they found of Peter Pettigrew was his finger 147 00:31:49.635 --> 00:32:07.739 Savannah Gilbo: the sneakoscope, which is a magical object. That's a dark dark detector lights off and lights up and goes off twice when scabbers is around. So the 1st time when Ron is packing it up, and the second time when Kirk Shanks, who's her Chinese cat is picking on scabbers so 148 00:32:08.255 --> 00:32:18.209 Savannah Gilbo: that, you know, I think in the text Ron shakes it off is like, I don't know it's probably just dysfunctional, or maybe my brother's got me. You know, one that doesn't work, or something like that. 149 00:32:18.821 --> 00:32:23.489 Savannah Gilbo: And then we know that Scavers is constantly hiding, missing, or running away from Ron. 150 00:32:23.540 --> 00:32:49.099 Savannah Gilbo: and Ron can't figure out why he's doing this, and Peter Pettigrew again. He knows serious. Black is looking for him. So he's doing whatever he can to get away from hogwarts. Okay? So why is this effective? Why did it work? Well, Harry's perspective just like Camille's in the previous book. It's limited by the misinformation that he's getting, and the fact that he's a child, right? So adults don't trust him enough to tell him the truth. 151 00:32:49.100 --> 00:32:55.710 Savannah Gilbo: so he only gets limited information, plus all the evidence really does point to serious right. We can't blame him 152 00:32:56.090 --> 00:33:19.909 Savannah Gilbo: but his relief and his amazement at the very end of the book. When he discovers that serious black is not the killer is shared by the reader, because we believe the same things Harry did, and in hindsight all the clues were there. So this red herring really works. And I see Chelsea in the chat said I was 9, so I believed everything as it was presented. I did, too, I mean, why would you not right? 153 00:33:20.400 --> 00:33:21.450 Savannah Gilbo: So. 154 00:33:21.490 --> 00:33:34.440 Savannah Gilbo: as you can probably see, or, as you're probably imagining, red herrings don't feel like they're the easiest things to craft, and that's because they have to tread this kind of fine line between being visible and invisible. 155 00:33:35.350 --> 00:34:00.779 Savannah Gilbo: and they have to be obvious enough that most readers will pick up on them, but subtle enough that the reader believes it and follows that false trail. So it's kind of it's it's like a dance. Right? So how do we do this? Let me recap all the stuff I went through into my top 5 tips, and then we'll do some QA. At the end. So the number one tip is that we wanna incorporate 156 00:34:00.780 --> 00:34:08.520 Savannah Gilbo: the red herrings into the fabric of our story. So they have to serve a purpose and feel like they're an organic part of the story. 157 00:34:08.699 --> 00:34:20.459 Savannah Gilbo: They can't just be kind of inserted. You know, as a kind of a separate thing, or a thing that doesn't connect to other things in your story just because your plots lacking tension, excitement or conflict. 158 00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:50.689 Savannah Gilbo: So instead, they need to have an impact on the central conflict and the global story. So they need to be woven into everything else. And in the 2 examples we looked at serious black. He plays a huge role in the story, right? So the conflict main conflict and story revolves around Harry staying out of serious blacks way, because supposedly, this guy wants to kill him. And if you took Harry out of the or serious out of the plot, the whole story would fall apart. Right? So he's an integral part of this story 159 00:34:50.989 --> 00:35:17.697 Savannah Gilbo: in sharp objects. Adora, who's our red herring? That's the mom she provides a ton of conflict for Camille to deal with. So it's leftover conflict from their from her childhood, and sometimes she's a little literal barrier to getting answers about the case. So sometimes she's at the victim's house or a suspect's house, and says, you know, you really need to leave these people alone. Right? So she's providing all these different layers of conflict. 160 00:35:18.100 --> 00:35:34.060 Savannah Gilbo: And without her it would have been really difficult to hide the truth about Anna right, and also don't discount the fact that she really was guilty of a murder in the past. So again, they're integral to the story. They're not just like chess pieces. They're something bigger than that. 161 00:35:34.690 --> 00:35:58.189 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So Tip, tip number 2, we wanna give our innocent characters motivation means an opportunity to have done the bad thing. So if you're planning to use a character as a red herring, we have to convince readers of a reason why this person could be guilty. So you know, in the serious black example, right? We're convinced that this could totally be true. 162 00:35:58.770 --> 00:36:15.579 Savannah Gilbo: So to do that. We wanna set things up so that this character, who you're using as a red herring either benefits from the crime, had the means or opportunity to commit the crime has a strong motive, or all of the above, and I'll leave that up for a second, because I can tell there are some note takers. 163 00:36:19.590 --> 00:36:38.030 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So in Harry Potter, we know series black was believed to have been the secret keeper. Right? So that gives him the means and opportunity to betray their location to Voldemort, if he was the only one who knew where they lived and was the keeper of that secret. You know it's it's hard not to suspect him right 164 00:36:38.326 --> 00:37:02.319 Savannah Gilbo: in sharp objects. Adora was Anna Natalie's tutor, and she even went as far as to call the girls her friends. So we're seeing that on the surface. And then under the surface, Camille, through her perspective, is saying, Gosh! I don't know. I think my mom might actually hate children. And if Adora I mean Anna and Natalie were bad girls, I don't know how far Mom would go to correct their behavior. Right. So we're kind of. There's 165 00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:06.929 Savannah Gilbo: reason to believe that these people could have done something bad. 166 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:17.561 Savannah Gilbo: Tip number 3 is to give readers no obvious reason to suspect your guilty character of the crime, and this one, I think, is 167 00:37:18.080 --> 00:37:44.809 Savannah Gilbo: sometimes the most challenging cause we know the person's guilty, but we need to make it believe, or the reader believe, that they're not so. To do this, you could have a guilty character who's maybe acting strangely. But the protagonist can't put his or her finger on. Why, at least not yet. You could also discredit the guilty character by giving them a personality or skill set that doesn't feel typical of someone bad or capable of committing the crime. 168 00:37:45.221 --> 00:37:50.477 Savannah Gilbo: So we'll take take a look at an example in a second, and pausing for our note takers. 169 00:37:51.210 --> 00:37:54.108 Savannah Gilbo: Put it. Yes, in the chat. If you're one of those notetakers 170 00:37:54.420 --> 00:37:59.310 Savannah Gilbo: I know. That's me. Whenever I watch a live training I'm always like, Oh, my gosh, slow down! I want to take a note 171 00:37:59.847 --> 00:38:26.300 Savannah Gilbo: so I tried to stop. Okay, alright. So in Harry Potter. Nobody would have believed that Peter Pettigrew was capable of betraying and murdering his friends, but also of siding with Voldemort, and Mcgonagall is one of the people that that helps cover for him, not on purpose, obviously. But she says, you know, he's a stupid and foolish boy, and he was a less than average student. So you know no one's gonna really believe that a kid like that, or a man like that, or whatever 172 00:38:26.712 --> 00:38:33.320 Savannah Gilbo: would be capable of doing something, you know, something as big as betraying and murdering 173 00:38:34.130 --> 00:38:54.179 Savannah Gilbo: in sharp objects, even though Anna has a violent streak, nobody is really gonna believe that a 13 year old is going to commit a horrendous crime more than once. Sometimes she's painted like a victim, and also she's 13, right? So it's a little bit hard to jump to assuming that she's behind all these heinous crimes. 174 00:38:54.894 --> 00:39:01.449 Savannah Gilbo: So that's Tip number 3. Give readers no obvious reason to suspect your guilty character of the crime. 175 00:39:02.800 --> 00:39:30.790 Savannah Gilbo: Tip number 4 is to focus the readers attention elsewhere when you plant clues, and this one is my favorite tip cause. It takes some practice, but once you get it down, this is what really helps you write a great red herring. So misdirection, this is really important. Misdirection is not about withholding information. It's about giving readers extra information and focusing their attention there instead of on the truth that you're also planting. 176 00:39:30.970 --> 00:39:44.079 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So in Harry Potter, almost every clue that points to scabbers being more than just. Ron's pet rat is easily skipped over because of the way that the author plants clues so 177 00:39:44.290 --> 00:40:02.365 Savannah Gilbo: a few different examples. She diverts readers attention away from the truth by hiding clues in a list of things. So, for example, every time we hear about the creators of the marauders map, we hear Mooney, Wormtale, Padfoot, and prongs, and for those who aren't familiar these are nicknames of 178 00:40:02.720 --> 00:40:17.530 Savannah Gilbo: Pete. This is Peter Pettigrew wormtale for a rat Peter and his friends. So this is a clue that's pointing to, you know this and sorry this is a serious black. So there's more people involved than just serious, right? 179 00:40:17.730 --> 00:40:25.680 Savannah Gilbo: But we skip these clues because it's in a list of things. And we're paying attention like, what does this mean? Who are all these people? Things like that? 180 00:40:25.991 --> 00:40:50.009 Savannah Gilbo: She also distracts readers with high action or emotion. So there's a part where Crook Shanks is chasing scabbers around the room, and Ron and Hermione get into this big fight because you know your cat's constantly coming after my rat, and she's like you know Crook Shanks is the cat. Don't be mad at him. So you know, the point here is, we don't wanna hold information back from the reader, we want to 181 00:40:50.030 --> 00:41:12.920 Savannah Gilbo: figure out how to not only discreetly plant the truth, but to distract them from the truth with something interesting. Another way that Jk, rowling likes to do this. Thinking of the 1st Harry Potter book, is. She uses humor sometimes? Right? So you know, there's a part where Fred and George are throwing snowballs at the back of Professor Quarles turban, which is where we know 182 00:41:13.225 --> 00:41:26.350 Savannah Gilbo: Voldemort's living. So because it's funny we're not really paying that much attention to some of the other things around it. So just some things to think about in sharp objects almost every time we see, like the real violent Amma. 183 00:41:26.410 --> 00:41:40.550 Savannah Gilbo: right afterwards she reverts either back into her child like self, or she shows a kind of an extreme amount of kindness towards Camille, and the more we find out about Adora, the more we believe in this act that Anna's pointing on 184 00:41:40.660 --> 00:41:49.480 Savannah Gilbo: her pudding on so she kind of plays the victim. She plays the innocent. And then we learn all this stuff about Adora, and we're like, Oh, my gosh, you poor kid! Right! 185 00:41:50.060 --> 00:41:52.240 Savannah Gilbo: And then, for most of the story. 186 00:41:52.580 --> 00:42:07.770 Savannah Gilbo: the police and Camille. They're all looking for a local man, because that's what the the profile of that for fits this particular crime. So we're misdirected because the characters don't know any better themselves. And they're, you know, they're just 187 00:42:07.800 --> 00:42:10.539 Savannah Gilbo: kind of going through the motions. And we're following along. 188 00:42:10.600 --> 00:42:16.550 Savannah Gilbo: So tip number 4. Focus the readers attention elsewhere. When you do plant clues 189 00:42:17.210 --> 00:42:25.310 Savannah Gilbo: and then tip number 5, kind of bringing it full circle. We always want to play fair. So this one's really important. Because when a reader 190 00:42:25.350 --> 00:42:50.519 Savannah Gilbo: picks up your book they're giving you their trust, they're gonna spend time with you. And they're gonna expect you to make it a fair experience. And as they're reading, they're gonna build on each piece of information that you give them, they're gonna try to understand the big picture, and they're gonna try to guess and figure out what's going to happen next. And if we don't give them the tools to do that, or if we trick them in a way that's not fun and purposeful. 191 00:42:50.520 --> 00:43:10.524 Savannah Gilbo: then you know, you kind of fool them by leaving things out. And they're gonna be disappointed by that experience because you basically just mess with them. So we don't wanna do this. And then, I'm just curious. Has anybody read a book where, like the author didn't play fair and just put bad in the comments or in the chat? Put bad? If you've ever had that experience. 192 00:43:10.820 --> 00:43:14.739 Savannah Gilbo: I have. And I kind of closed the book like what the heck? I didn't know what to do. 193 00:43:14.840 --> 00:43:19.700 Savannah Gilbo: Yeah, I see it. So a lot of us have, and it's not fun as a reader. So we wanna play fair 194 00:43:20.838 --> 00:43:41.440 Savannah Gilbo: in Harry Potter and the prisoner of Askaban. We saw that Roland gave us all the clues we needed to figure out who scabbers really was, and the truth of the crime in sharp objects. Gillian Flynn gave us all the clues we needed to figure out that Anna was the murderer, but she did such a great job distracting us from that that we dismissed it right 195 00:43:41.786 --> 00:44:05.779 Savannah Gilbo: in both stories the truth was revealed, and readers were able to sit there and go. Oh, my gosh! All the clues were here! They connect the dots, and that's what gives a really enjoyable reading experience. And I see in the chat someone says, I'm expecting this savannah to throw us a red herring. That is such a good idea, for if I ever do this presentation again, I should have a red herring in the presentation. 196 00:44:06.270 --> 00:44:31.679 Savannah Gilbo: Okay. So the key point to all of this is, we don't wanna hold important information back. We always wanna play fair. We wanna figure out a way to discreetly plant the truth, while also distracting reader from that truth with something interesting as well. And when you can pull this off you will create a story that surprises and delights readers and sticks with them until the end of the time, which I know we all want to do. 197 00:44:32.053 --> 00:44:47.266 Savannah Gilbo: So hopefully. Now you feel like you have a better sense of how to write effective red herrings alongside the true clues to misdirect your readers, pull off those awesome plot twists. That surprise, even the most clever, most clever of readers. 198 00:44:47.620 --> 00:45:09.960 Savannah Gilbo: I was gonna make up a word there, the most cleverest of readers. So one more time where you can grab that cheat sheet before we go into QA. You can go to Savannah. gobo.com forward slash pwa for pro writing aid and download a cheat sheet with the key points, and again you will get access to these slides at some point. I need to send them over to the team. So hang in there. 199 00:45:10.190 --> 00:45:13.620 Savannah Gilbo: And yeah, we'll move into Q&A, so let me unshare 200 00:45:14.076 --> 00:45:20.219 Savannah Gilbo: it clicks some buttons and unshare my screen here. Actually, I'll leave this up for another second. So you guys can grab the link. 201 00:45:21.038 --> 00:45:25.370 Savannah Gilbo: And Amelio, unless you have any opposition, I'll just dive into the QA. 202 00:45:26.350 --> 00:45:27.350 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: No, absolutely. 203 00:45:27.350 --> 00:45:28.230 Savannah Gilbo: Okay. Okay. 204 00:45:28.670 --> 00:45:29.490 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Thank you. 205 00:45:29.900 --> 00:45:33.727 Savannah Gilbo: Perfect. Alright. So I'm gonna dismiss some of these that 206 00:45:34.890 --> 00:45:41.557 Savannah Gilbo: actually, what I'll what I'll do is I'll leave this up and I'll just turn my video back on. So I can see you guys. Okay, there we go. So 207 00:45:41.950 --> 00:45:56.397 Savannah Gilbo: Anu says you mentioned playing fair with a reader. What if it's part of a series, would a misdirection be? Alright? I think it's kinda so within a series, no matter what we're talking about, we wanna close out. Book one. 208 00:45:57.110 --> 00:46:12.120 Savannah Gilbo: whether it's the plot, whether it's a piece of a character's arc or whatever it is, and I think that the same is true for red herring. So like, think about Snake, for example. Right? He's a red herring that's used over the series, and we don't find out the truth about him until book 209 00:46:12.310 --> 00:46:32.463 Savannah Gilbo: 5 or 6 but in each individual book we get explanations for his behavior that on the surface can make sense right? Cause. That's all we need. We need the reader to walk away with some surface level explanation of why a character is doing what they're doing. But what we, what we don't want to do in a series is kind of leave this big 210 00:46:33.150 --> 00:46:56.769 Savannah Gilbo: this big question open ended because it'll start to feel like you're going, hey, reader, I've got this carrot, and I'm gonna keep dangling in front of you for 10 books, and you're gonna be really mad by the end. So I don't know if that answers your question. But just try to think about each book as like a closed unit, and you can leave things open, but the main pieces need to be closed out so let me know. If you have follow up in the chat, and I will come back to that. 211 00:46:57.997 --> 00:47:12.619 Savannah Gilbo: Let's see. Okay, Rebecca, this is a good question. So Rebecca says, do you list potential clues toward the truth and clues toward the red herrings ahead of time? Or do they only become part of the story as you write it? So I think 212 00:47:12.640 --> 00:47:27.455 Savannah Gilbo: if it were me, I would not try to get your red herrings perfect, or even your draft perfect on your 1st draft. I think the brilliance of red herrings comes through in the editing phase, because once you get to the end of your draft, you know what your stories about you know. 213 00:47:27.870 --> 00:47:45.201 Savannah Gilbo: you know what pieces of the puzzle you have to work with and things like that. And then you can go back. And you can say, Okay, I'm I'm gonna weave this clue through here, you know, in Chapter 6, and then I'm gonna set up high to truth here, whatever it is. So I think 214 00:47:45.770 --> 00:47:59.750 Savannah Gilbo: 1 1 exercise I do with the writers I work with is, I say, you basically need to get out 2 pieces of paper. One is the red herring track, and one is the true clues track. And you basically need to plot the crime or whatever happened 215 00:47:59.860 --> 00:48:19.380 Savannah Gilbo: from 2 perspectives. So as the author, you want to believe the red herring track on the surface right? Because it's hard sometimes you know everything about your story, so you kind of have to pretend you don't. And say, Do I believe this? And then you also have to believe the true clues track of what really happened, and then layer those together in your story. 216 00:48:19.930 --> 00:48:21.930 Savannah Gilbo: Sorry if you guys can hear my dogs 217 00:48:22.766 --> 00:48:27.914 Savannah Gilbo: so hopefully that helped let me know, if not in the chat. I'm just scrolling up to see? 218 00:48:28.720 --> 00:48:32.769 Savannah Gilbo: let's see. Okay, just making sure there's no follow up on the previous question. 219 00:48:33.240 --> 00:48:49.260 Savannah Gilbo: Alright, Diane said. Were there other male characters who were suspects in sharp objects. Yes, there there was. I can't remember all of them, but there was they talked about like long haul truck drivers, I think, at 1 point. And then there was like a weird guy in town, and things like that. 220 00:48:49.540 --> 00:49:04.400 Savannah Gilbo: So that there were. They were definitely pursuing people that fit the profile. And then Camille and the this like kind of detective that started to think in a little bit of a rogue way they started narrowing in on women. It's very interesting. The show is very interesting as well, if you've never seen it. 221 00:49:05.966 --> 00:49:29.560 Savannah Gilbo: Let's see, there's a couple of questions about like how many red herrings can you have too many red herrings? I wish that there is a rule of like. Put 6 red herrings in your story, and it will work. Unfortunately, there's no rule like that. But you know there's that whole. You've probably heard the thing about the rule of 3, I say at least, have 3 not 3 red herrings, but 3 222 00:49:29.720 --> 00:49:43.666 Savannah Gilbo: like pieces of evidence that could prove that the red herring is behind the crime, or whatever happened. And they, you know, you can look up the Rule 3 in writing if you want to learn more about that. But it's kinda like they say 3. You have to say something 3 times, or 223 00:49:43.930 --> 00:49:59.889 Savannah Gilbo: point to something 3 times for readers to really believe it. So my default is always start there and then. Do what makes sense for your story. So instead of saying, you must have 8 red herring clues, it's do what's best for your story, and then get readers and see how they feel about it. 224 00:50:00.810 --> 00:50:03.270 Savannah Gilbo: Let's see. So 225 00:50:04.090 --> 00:50:14.539 Savannah Gilbo: Mara says, what about someone other than an antagonist providing a red Herring for their own reasons that are later revealed. So that can be fine, too, as long as you again give them 226 00:50:14.710 --> 00:50:21.740 Savannah Gilbo: evidence or proof. You know a reason for us to believe why that person is guilty or has done the crime. I think that's 227 00:50:21.840 --> 00:50:23.420 Savannah Gilbo: no totally fine. 228 00:50:25.060 --> 00:50:27.490 Savannah Gilbo: Oh, let's see. Yeah. 229 00:50:27.920 --> 00:50:36.319 Savannah Gilbo: let's see, Chaul says, the sharp objects end with a surprise or provide consequences. Should we do this in our own books, so 230 00:50:36.610 --> 00:50:40.023 Savannah Gilbo: sharp objects is a great case. Study for 231 00:50:40.520 --> 00:50:53.920 Savannah Gilbo: ha! In my mind like how to think about closing the loop on a plot and then opening up for something else. I don't think there's a book to correct me if I'm wrong. But basically, what happens is, Mom gets arrested. She goes to jail 232 00:50:54.040 --> 00:51:09.469 Savannah Gilbo: so that plot is closed. Right? Mom has been brought to justice for her crime of killing the sister in the past, and then at the end, I don't quite remember actually, what happens to Emma, I know that it's it might even be in the epilogue where she's. 233 00:51:09.510 --> 00:51:15.159 Savannah Gilbo: you know. Another child's gone missing from the school. Her teeth have been pulled out, and Camille kind of has this moment of like. 234 00:51:15.330 --> 00:51:17.995 Savannah Gilbo: Oh, my gosh! It's my sister! 235 00:51:18.450 --> 00:51:30.849 Savannah Gilbo: And I don't know. You guys put in the chat. Remind me, if you guys know what happened at the very, very end, I'm pretty sure it just closed there, and we feel satisfied because Mom got brought to justice, and we know the truth about the sister. 236 00:51:31.360 --> 00:51:33.239 Savannah Gilbo: So it's kind of interesting. 237 00:51:33.700 --> 00:51:35.470 Savannah Gilbo: All right. Let's see. 238 00:51:35.710 --> 00:51:38.460 Savannah Gilbo: just scrolling through the Q&A. 239 00:51:41.300 --> 00:52:05.439 Savannah Gilbo: Okay. So Eva says, how do you plant clues if the clue is a whole relationship? So, for example, if 2 friends are in fact lovers, but nobody must know. So they behave like friends. You can't have them behave too odd and not blow the surprise. How would you go about hinting at their secret relationship without making it obvious. So I have questions for you. On this are the 2 friends. 240 00:52:05.440 --> 00:52:22.219 Savannah Gilbo: your protagonists. Because if so, we're gonna have what's called interiority. So we're gonna have access to their inner thoughts, their how they process things, their goals, basically their inner landscape. Right? So we will know the truth if we're in their perspective. If their side characters 241 00:52:22.663 --> 00:52:36.249 Savannah Gilbo: it's it all comes down to who your point of view character is, and how they perceive these people, so as long as your protagonist or point of view character perceives them as friends. You know the reader should buy into that, too, so hopefully. That helped. 242 00:52:37.730 --> 00:52:51.556 Savannah Gilbo: Alright Jennifer says, do you recommend dropping clues and then having surprise, a surprise or distraction, happen simultaneously to distract the reader so you can definitely do that. In one of the tips we talked about. 243 00:52:52.000 --> 00:53:00.350 Savannah Gilbo: you know you can do that. You can distract people with humor. You can put things the clue in a list of things, or something like that. But again, just think of. 244 00:53:01.020 --> 00:53:15.580 Savannah Gilbo: if if your protagonist or point of view character is the avatar for the reader experiencing your story. How are you distracting the point of view character in that moment? So they're not able to sit there and ruminate on the clue and figure things out. 245 00:53:15.884 --> 00:53:27.400 Savannah Gilbo: So whatever would distract that person? It could be a thought it could be something action packed or funny, or it could be you know, could be anything. And it's gonna look a little different, depending on who your character is. 246 00:53:28.980 --> 00:53:39.150 Savannah Gilbo: Yeah. And Harry says, these examples work, because we trust the protagonist perspective. Are there particular tricks for hiding red herrings in a story with multiple points of view? 247 00:53:39.400 --> 00:53:51.190 Savannah Gilbo: Yeah. So you have to think about how you want the reader to feel and how you want the readers experience to be, because it's kind of like either. All the characters need to believe the red herring 248 00:53:51.220 --> 00:53:53.009 Savannah Gilbo: whose point of view you're in. 249 00:53:53.300 --> 00:53:57.409 Savannah Gilbo: Otherwise you spoil it for the reader, and that's a certain experience. 250 00:53:57.530 --> 00:54:16.689 Savannah Gilbo: Or you need to say, okay, certain ones may know and others won't. And then what kind of experience does that give the reader? And you have to kind of come at it from that way. So what experience do you want the reader to have? And then what does that mean in terms of point of view and things like that? Because if you do give away the truth from 2 characters, perspectives. 251 00:54:17.020 --> 00:54:27.220 Savannah Gilbo: and you have 2 other point of view characters that don't know it, then how are you keeping the reader engaged when you're in the 2 characters point of view, who knows the truth? Right? So you have to think about 252 00:54:27.240 --> 00:54:29.959 Savannah Gilbo: the effect on the reader in that kind of scenario. 253 00:54:31.202 --> 00:54:58.480 Savannah Gilbo: Let's see, Stefan says, what do you think about the detective recapping the clues during the speech, like at the end in the final chapter. So I can hurt in the Hercule Poirot stories. I personally, as a reader like that, I think it's fun. Cause I'm like, Oh, yeah, I got some of those and some of those I didn't know, and things like that. So again, you know, do do what you wanna do. I think, readers? You guys correct me if I'm wrong in the chat readers of crime, I think like that. 254 00:54:59.246 --> 00:55:00.560 Savannah Gilbo: Let's see. 255 00:55:01.090 --> 00:55:10.553 Savannah Gilbo: I'm scrolling through. So we answered some of the questions about like minimum maximum number. So I'm gonna skip all those in the QA. And now I'm just looking at the 256 00:55:11.020 --> 00:55:26.709 Savannah Gilbo: at the chat. So yeah, chaos is the the Amma's doll house had ivory teeth, and that's how she figured it out the school called and said, girl went missing, and there are. There are teeth missing, and then she's looking at the doll house like, Oh, my God, it's my my sister. 257 00:55:28.840 --> 00:55:33.316 Savannah Gilbo: okay, yeah. So a lot of a lot of people are saying, it's satisfying. When the detective 258 00:55:34.190 --> 00:55:36.560 Savannah Gilbo: when the detective kind of recaps everything. 259 00:55:36.860 --> 00:55:57.550 Savannah Gilbo: Let's see, I see Ralph from Chicago. Hi, Ralph! He says, how do you handle red herrings in a 2 timeline story. So death take place. Death, death. Death takes place in 1919 and confused local police, but it was solved in 2019 when hidden bodies appear. Okay. 260 00:55:59.200 --> 00:56:00.490 Savannah Gilbo: So I 261 00:56:00.630 --> 00:56:15.030 Savannah Gilbo: it's hard to say a general answer, because I don't know all the details. But I'm gonna assume that in in 2,019 that timeline? Is it about solving the crime from the past? And that's what the story is built around? If so, then you can have your 262 00:56:15.030 --> 00:56:34.980 Savannah Gilbo: detective in 2019 also believe some red herrings. And maybe it's there's past red herrings, and maybe there's also present red herrings. Making this up. But, for example, if another detective didn't want him to solve the case, because, you know, then he wouldn't get the bonus the detective could get in his way by 263 00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:46.600 Savannah Gilbo: hiding evidence or leading them down a wrong trail or something like that. You could also have past red herrings that the detectives in 1919 believed that also fool your current detective as well. 264 00:56:47.240 --> 00:56:48.940 Savannah Gilbo: So hopefully. That helps. 265 00:56:49.160 --> 00:56:52.209 Savannah Gilbo: Let's see, I'm just looking in the chat. 266 00:56:52.570 --> 00:56:59.389 Savannah Gilbo: Oh, Sandra says this was the one I was waiting for. And you're gonna catch the replay. You'll get the slide deck, too, so don't worry. 267 00:56:59.836 --> 00:57:24.149 Savannah Gilbo: Follow up question from Eva with a secret relationship. It's the only thing that makes the mystery make sense in the end. It's a bit of a revelation still need to keep it fair. But how do you hint at the romantic relationship? So, Eva, let me know if you can, in the chat. Who is your point of view character? Because if it's someone in the relationship that's gonna be very different than someone, a side character or a side character relationship. 268 00:57:24.330 --> 00:57:26.759 Savannah Gilbo: Okay? So it's not one of those 2 people. 269 00:57:26.890 --> 00:57:32.919 Savannah Gilbo: So how do we hint at their romantic relationship from the point of view? Characters? Perspective? 270 00:57:33.355 --> 00:57:39.199 Savannah Gilbo: So think about it this way. If we were, if our friends were dating in secret. 271 00:57:40.100 --> 00:57:43.599 Savannah Gilbo: What would be little clues where it's kind of like? 272 00:57:44.010 --> 00:57:48.349 Savannah Gilbo: you know. I just saw John look at Sally that way, and you know 273 00:57:48.390 --> 00:58:13.160 Savannah Gilbo: it's kinda like you have the question mark in your head. And then how do we distract with something so it could be like? John looked at Sally that way. But here comes, you know, homecoming King, who also likes Sally, and then we believe that maybe she's into him, too, or something so just think about what would distract your point of view character, and how she's perceiving it. And sometimes I know this sounds silly, but sometimes just think about real life. 274 00:58:13.180 --> 00:58:16.509 Savannah Gilbo: you know, because we sometimes forget to zoom out and think about that. 275 00:58:17.040 --> 00:58:21.749 Savannah Gilbo: If you were in a secret relationship, what would you do to hide it from your friends and family, and 276 00:58:22.590 --> 00:58:28.600 Savannah Gilbo: and or if you were on the opposite side, what do you think you would clue into if someone else had a secret relationship 277 00:58:29.367 --> 00:58:40.049 Savannah Gilbo: so hopefully, that helps, I know. I wish we could get into the details of everyone's story. But it's kind of impossible. So, Emilio, I don't know if you want me to go ahead and wrap it up there, or let me know what you think. 278 00:58:40.500 --> 00:58:48.899 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: I think we have time for one more question, if there's any, but I don't think there's any more in the QA. So. 279 00:58:49.250 --> 00:58:50.080 Savannah Gilbo: Perfect. 280 00:58:50.080 --> 00:58:54.229 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: I wanted to thank you, Savannah. It was. It was fantastic. It was. 281 00:58:54.230 --> 00:58:54.960 Savannah Gilbo: So good. 282 00:58:54.960 --> 00:58:58.774 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Such a wonderful session with loads 283 00:58:59.540 --> 00:59:08.140 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: with with a a law of action packed. And I've been following the comments. And there's really really great feedback as well. 284 00:59:08.140 --> 00:59:09.209 Savannah Gilbo: Oh, good! Well. 285 00:59:09.210 --> 00:59:09.609 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Thank you. 286 00:59:09.610 --> 00:59:11.810 Savannah Gilbo: All for having me coming today. 287 00:59:11.810 --> 00:59:28.280 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Thank you for coming back. Savanna. Everyone. Thank you so much for joining. Please follow Savannah. There's the the links. I'll share them again for everyone and see you in just under an hour for next session. 288 00:59:28.950 --> 00:59:30.109 Savannah Gilbo: Bye, everybody! 289 00:59:31.010 --> 00:59:31.410 Emilio @ ProWritingAid: Vine.