Michelle Griep

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Keeping Secrets

DAY 14

Word Count: 7953

Sentence of the Day: Sunlight slanted through the sheer window coverings in the dining room, high enough in the sky to agree with Brentwood's cold toast that the morning was well spent.

So I'm writing along, la-de-dah, when all of a sudden my hero pulls out his pocketwatch, flips open the lid, and rubs his finger over a single engraved word. What in the world? What's the word? Where'd he get that watch? Why does reading it tense his gut, his shoulders, his soul?

Which brings us to yet another plot whisper...

A secret often provides plot twists in the story. (pg. 86 / The Plot Whisperer)

To which I wholeheartedly agree. Telling everything up front in a story makes it a yawner. My favorite books are the ones where I slap myself on the forehead and go, "Whoa...didn't see that one coming!"

But sometimes it knocks me off balance when one of my own characters is hiding a secret from me.