Earlier this week, I was lucky enough to start reading Amanda McCabe‘s new book, A Notorious Woman, which is released in August 1 (pre-ordering is easy! Click here!)
Both the hero and heroine have Big Secrets; I am dying to know what they are, but I am content to wait until Amanda sees fit to tell me; see, I like Big Secrets. It draws out the drama and suspense a little more.
One of my critique partners, the Wise Writing Friend, dislikes them, and chides me when I try to do one–maybe I’m doing them clumsily, but I get the feeling she plain doesn’t like them. There are some people who think the author is trying to trick them, or maybe they think it’s lazy writing.
In thinking about books with Big Secrets, I recall Tracy Grant‘s Secrets of A Lady, which has a whopper of a secret (and whose book is released July 31! Interviewed here on Sunday!), Mary Doria Russell‘s The Sparrow, the Harry Potter series (um . . . what are you doing tonight at 12:01am?), and Charles Willeford‘s Cockfighter.
What examples can you think of? Do you like the use of the Big Secret?
Megan
*The Romantics, “Talking In Your Sleep.” HA! Gave you an earworm again, didn’t I?
How did it take me so long to find you? As it is, I stumbled upon a very old interview that led me to you. But, I’m glad I’m here as I read and write traditional Regencies, too. Thanks for another place to read about my favorite genre.
I hope you don’t mind if I link to your blog. I’m such a scatterbrain about these things that if I don’t put a link on my blog, I’ll never get back.
http://denisesden.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the nice mention of “Secrets of a Lady”, Megan! I’m very much looking forward to being a Riskies guest on Sunday. It’s probably fairly obvious I love Big Secrets. I’ll buy a book on the promise of one and wondering what it is will keep me turning the pages. I do think it’s important that when the secret is finally revealed it lives up to the advance hype (in other words, justifies the character’s anguishing about it or going to great lengths to conceal it). And that there’s time for the characters to deal with the repercussions once the secret is revealed (which is why in “Secrets of a Lady”, Mélanie’s main secret is revealed fairly early, though there are a number of other revelations which follow).
Welcome, Denise! Glad to have to here!
Megan, I for one really love big secrets. I like to read them (they can really make a book a page-turner), and I’ve found that I like to write them, too — Atalanta’s big secret certainly made the plotting of My Lady Gamester much easier!)
Cara
I think for me it depends on what the BIG SECRET is, and how it’s handled. I hate books where the entire conflict is a BIG MISUNDERSTANDING, so books centered around a BIG SECRET can sometimes be a problem for me.
I think maybe I like it best when I know what the secret is, but the opposing protagonist doesn’t.
BIG SECRET or no, I’m dying to get my hands on Amanda’s new book!!!
Like many things, The Big Secret, is something I haven’t thought about. I have secrets in The Vanishing Viscountess, but the reader knows them; the hero doesn’t, though.
But now the concept of The Big Secret in Amanda’s and Tracy’s books has me intrigued.
Welcome, Denise! We love people to link to us. Tell us about your writing.
I do love Big Secrets (can’t wait for Harry Potter this weekend! I am avoiding all online spoilage…)! But, like Tracy and Kalen, it depends on the secret. I hate getting to the end of a book and thinking “That’s IT! That was what all the angst was about???”
And I’m soooo excited you used my book here! I am not a good plotter (main reason I could never write a mystery–I’m clueless about planting clues), so I’m happy there are at least a few little surprises in the book. 🙂
And welcome, Denise! I’m glad you found us!
I agree that like most writing choices, success of The Big Secret depends on how well it’s pulled off.
It works better when the bearer of The Big Secret is not a main POV character. Especially in deep POV, it makes the character a less convincing POV character if they’re withholding something, because if we’re really in their head, they wouldn’t be withholding that secret from themselves.
Take Snape’s is-he-evil-or-isn’t-he? secret. It works because the reader identifies mostly with Harry. I thought the legilimency stuff was brilliant, because it allowed Harry (the reader) to peek inside Snape’s head without invoking Snape’s POV.
Yeah, you know where I’ll be at 12:01. It’s my daughter’s birthday, and this is the first (and last) late night Potter pick-up for her! (My son’s over it. Although he’ll be the first to grab the book and disappear.)
I hate getting to the end of a book and thinking “That’s IT! That was what all the angst was about???”
Exactly!
I like Big Secrets. I think sometimes people who are overzealous in avoiding Big Misunderstandings confuse the two.
There may even be a gray area in between. One reviewer complained about my book THE INCORRIGIBLE LADY CATHERINE saying the heroine should have told the hero her secret earlier. But when it gets out all hell breaks loose just as she knew it would. I still think it made sense for that story, that heroine. I suspect the reviewer would have liked a more optimistic heroine but Catherine’s background doesn’t lead her to expect things to work out.
Anyway, I think it’s a Big Misunderstanding when there’s no good reason for the characters to keep a secret.
Oh, I love big secrets. . . the thing about them that might annoy me isn’t the secret itself or having it or anything along those lines, just the timing — in that, sometimes it seems like the hero/ine waited to dang long to share it with the hero/ine and us for that matter. But more times than not it’s done well and builds up that suspense and all, even if we know it and the characters don’t. 🙂
And love the pic of Vader!!! 🙂
Lois
PS – I forgot to post to the blog yesterday after seeing the coverflats message (LOL love those things, so had to try!) but I couldn’t get that song out of my head for a while – you know, that title. . . LOL 🙂
Lois