How much should the MC help the reader?

Wow! Good question!


I've never thought about it until now.

Thinking...
Unless you already know how the story ends, then your discoveries will be your reader's discoveries as well. If your story has been outlined beforehand, then you may want to be careful of revealing too much information too early.
If your character is feeling confused, your reader ought to be feeling confused as well, that way he/she will have the same AHA! moment when your character does. (And when you do too!)

Try just writing through it until you reach the end of your story. Then, re-read it and see if there are moments of confusion.

Anyway, thats the best I can come up with now. It's 1230am here.
Hope it helps!

Mystery readers are the type of readers who think along with your MC. They will try to put the pieces together. Personally, I prefer it if the reader is kept in the dark, a lot like the MC's sidekick until the final revelation, but in some cases it's a good idea to make sure you and your readers are on the same page half-way through. Especially if that page is a red herring.

I agree with Turkey Lurkey, if your MC is confused, the reader should be confused also. The only thing I would add to that is that they shouldnt be confused in the way that they feel thy missed something. In mysteries, I like to be confused, caught off gaurd, have those A-ha moments along with the MC. But I hate when I have the feeling that I missed something and I find myself flipping back pages to re-read. I dont know if I am explaining myself. I dont write mysteries, but I love to read them so I only know what I feel.

Lifelongdagger said:

I am writing a mystery/thriller . . . but is it legitimate for me to have the character work out what is going on or should I leave that completely to the reader. Ian

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Ian, you mentioned that you’re writing a mystery/thriller. There are a couple of distinctions between the two that might help you find a solution to your dilemma. In general, a mystery is the solving of a crime—usually a murder. The protag moves from clue to clue taking the reader along to discover the identity of the antag. In the end, when the mystery is solved, the reader should come to the same conclusion as the protag and have a feeling of accomplishment that they were able to keep up with the clues and their meaning.

I believe that a thriller is the opposite of a mystery. Most of the time, in a thriller the crime has not been committed yet, and the reader usually knows who the antag is pretty much from the start. The protag spends the length of the story discovering what the crime is going to be and how to stop it before it happens. Thrillers are normally based on the ticking clock theme.

These two generalities are my personal interpretation of the two genres (actually, I consider thrillers to be a subset of mysteries). So my answer to your question is that in a mystery, the protag and the reader sort of work together to solve the clues whereas in a thriller, the reader might actually know more of what's going on than the protag. What the reader doesn't usually know is how the main character will react to the clues. I hope this helps.

The readers' journey should parallel the MC's journey regardless of genre. Mystery readers don't want to be told what the solution is, they want to try to figure it out themselves. I'd say just to write the story as it happens then double check it.

What I do is fairly simple (but then I'm a simpleton so that's my modus operandi)-- I have a posterboard on my study wall with my plot kinks outlined out. Then, I track the twists around each kink and its ultimate resolution so that as I write, I know where I've been and can more easily develop an idea of where I'm going.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

Then again, there's nothing worse than the reader figuring out the twist early on (but still happily reading, because they're reading for story and character, not Shocking Twist) and then, after said twist occurs....the MC stops and expounds upon it for the reader's benefit. The reader is pulled out of the story and is going "Yes. Thank you. I got it. Before YOU did, for that matter. Shaddup!"

You can always take the Gene Wolfe approach to storytelling and not give your reader ANY answers anywhere that they don't work really hard for (and even then aren't always sure about). Still good reading.

PeeDee said:

Then again, there's nothing worse than the reader figuring out the twist early on (but still happily reading, because they're reading for story and character, not Shocking Twist) and then, after said twist occurs....the MC stops and expounds upon it for the reader's benefit. The reader is pulled out of the story and is going "Yes. Thank you. I got it. Before YOU did, for that matter. Shaddup!"

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In Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries, Archie Goodwin routinely addressed the reader directly, saying, “I’m sure you’ve figured this out already, since you’re probably smarter than I am.” I never did, of course.

Those are terrific books. (What? That's all I've got to add. I just happily like those books.)

I love being surprised and confused, and clever when reading books. And I am trying to put all that in my current book.