Information Hiding Hook Challenge

JohnLine

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Okay, I have a bit of a challenge for you. One hook I see used a lot by beginners is to have the MC withhold information from the reader as a sort of mystery guessing game.

I don’t want to use any specific writer as an example, so I’ll make up my own:

An MC is walking down the street and people call them all sorts of nasty names, like “Campbells” or “RedBall” or just really vague things. They keep getting attacked by people in tall white hats, and then in chapter 3 the MC steps in front of a mirror, and it’s revealed that they have a tomato for a head.

I call this an information hiding hook. And I think it varies from a plot twist like “he was a ghost the whole time” or “the narrator is Tyler Durden,” because in those examples the MC isn’t aware of the information either.

I’ve been generally poo-pooing it (highly technical term, I know). But I’d like to know if I’m off base. So if you can think of any examples of information hiding hooks that work, and are brilliant, I’d really like to have my preconceptions annihilated.
 

Bufty

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There is a difference between creating an initial atmosphere of mystery and creating reader frustration at not knowing what other characters and maybe the POV character, too, obviously know.

Simply initially withholding information does not automatically create 'mystery' or instil a desire to read on.

I can't remember the title but I recall one instance where there was a murder and the presumed murderer at the crime scene evaded the arriving police, went round the corner and then returned to the scene, where we realized he was a senior investigator.
 
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Ari Meermans

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There is a difference between creating mystery and creating reader frustration at not knowing what other characters and maybe the POV character, too, obviously know.

Simply initially withholding information does not automatically create 'mystery' or instil a desire to read on.

I can't remember the title but I recall one instance where there was a murder and the murderer evaded the arriving police, went round the corner and then returned to the scene where we realized he was a senior investigator.

^ Exactly.

If you set out to trick your reader, you won't write the best possible and most reader-satisfying story you can. A clever twist provides your reader with a satisfactory "Ah-hah!" moment because the clues were there all along and are identifiable in retrospect—such as, for instance, in the movie The Sixth Sense.

Don't trick your readers. They'll not thank you for it and you know where that leads.
 
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Enlightened

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I’ve been generally poo-pooing it (highly technical term, I know). But I’d like to know if I’m off base. So if you can think of any examples of information hiding hooks that work, and are brilliant, I’d really like to have my preconceptions annihilated.

I'm confused. It sounds like you are equating "information hiding" with secrets, but calling plot twists the same thing. In Harry Potter, he's delivered as a baby to the Dursley family (after surviving a slaughter by Voldemort). The big secret we don't find out till late in the series is that Harry is one of the horcrux components keeping Voldemort alive. Brandon Sanderson called this the iceberg theory. The reader is only exposed to enough information at a time. They only see the part above the water while the author knows that part and the submerged part as well.

Secrets and reveals are part of keeping the reader engaged (i.e. something done to keep the reader wanting to read each new scene from start to finish).
 

JohnLine

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Thanks all, for your wisdom!

I'm talking about having the POV character not state the obvious as a way of forcing the reader to continue.

The closest thing I can think of to this working is the movie "The Usual Suspects" with Verbal Kent and (*spoiler*) Keyser Soze. But that's an unreliable narrator, where the viewer doesn't know they are being fooled as it's happening, so it's a plot twist.

I've been critiquing a lot recently, and have decided to treat information hiding (where the reader knows that information the POV has isn't being told to them) as an error. But it's come up enough that I wanted to make sure I wasn't giving bad advice.
 

Bufty

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Thanks all, for your wisdom!

I'm talking about having the POV character not state the obvious as a way of forcing the reader to continue.

The closest thing I can think of to this working is the movie "The Usual Suspects" with Verbal Kent and (*spoiler*) Keyser Soze. But that's an unreliable narrator, where the viewer doesn't know they are being fooled as it's happening, so it's a plot twist.

I've been critiquing a lot recently, and have decided to treat information hiding (where the reader knows that information the POV has isn't being told to them) as an error. But it's come up enough that I wanted to make sure I wasn't giving bad advice.

Just make sure you can justify your opinion if you consider that what's being withheld is important and relevant story information the reader should know earlier than where it's perhaps eventually revealed.