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Lesson 13
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Rebecca Misdirects When Appropriate.
What I learned: I had included most of the important misdirections by doing three previous lessons and didn’t need musch more. After going through this lesson, I found a couple more places to include it.
Clue Misdirection: Jacob’s song about love and loss.
Dialogue Misdirection. Jacob denies his song is about a woman.
Character Misdirection: After being respectful and fatherly towards Jade throughout their jouney, Jacob frightens her. Without a word he rubs his hands all over her body probing each part with his fingers. He threatens to strip her naked and search every inch of her body if she doesn’t reveal the embeded tracking chip, a technology that supposedly doesn’t yet exist.These three inclusions, inspired a binge of creativity with my Thriller map. What fun. I look forward to the next lesson to clearify it even more.
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Carmen’s misdirects – when appropriate
What I learned from this assignment:
Misdirects are best used sparingly, or it’s easy to lose track (and plausibility) but used well, they create an incredible amount of tension and suspense.
I’m still working my way through my plot and this is so much fun to see what would work and what wouldn’t.
Wyatt lies to Laney about everything in the beginning and drags her into a dangerous game – later he turns out to be trustworthy
The cryptic messages about the man who can decode the drive
Laney says she’s an operative and Wyatt is just a bumbling underling (not true, but effective)
Wyatt’s communications with his shady boss go via an unassuming assistant – the boss looks guilty but is another red herring
The drive – conflicting versions on what’s on it and why it’s so important to get it to the man
The unassuming assistant shows concern about Wyatt’s survival chances but it turns out he does it to keep the boss and everyone on track with the pursuit
The boss tells Wyatt he doesn’t know who they can trust – more to make him look suspicious, but it’s true (although he happily sacrificed Wyatt’s friend)
The safe room supposedly couldn’t be broken into because of self-destruct mechanisms – that would defeat the purpose of a safe room
Physical clues/misdirections: The man didn’t recognise the drive, although he supposedly prepared the original decryption on the drive itself
The photo of boss and safe room owner
Use of public libraries and computers
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Subject Line: Agnes’s Misdirects…When Appropriate!
“What I learned doing this assignment is it can be difficult to insert “misdirection” without being repetitive. So, some other sections may need to be reworked to make the story and plot flow more smoothly and possibly reduce other areas of repetition, or actions out of sequence or order.”
Assignment:
1. Checked the following three to see how effectively I used misdirection.
A. The Red Herring character – Helen Roberts, is she mentally ill or is she “faking it?” (Misdirect)
B. The Villain’s plan. – Keeping two main secrets:
1. One revealed about his wife suffers from mental illness, so he assumes his daughter does as well;
2. Why his wife is mentally ill, what did the villain do to her that caused her mental illness? (Misdirect)
C. The cover-up for each mystery present as “Reality.”
What is the real reason John Deans is adamant in keeping John Roberts locked away to avoid the family secrets he is keeping?
3. Thriller Map for a few opportunities to and in misdirection:
A. Character Misdirection.
· Red Herring, Helen Roberts. Is Helen Roberts mentally ill like her mother, or is she “faking her mental illness?”
· Molly Deans has a mental illness caused by her husband, what happened to her?
· Hero, John Roberts, focuses on his future despite being jailed wrongfully.
· Villain, Mike Deans, has two secrets, but fears that John Roberts will expose both but is unaware that John Roberts doesn’t know everything.
· Why are Mike Deans’ secrets so severe that he will have an innocent person locked up?
· Why does Mike Deans finally start to look into locating his missing daughter?
· Why can no one in the asylum discover who Helen Roberts is?
· John Roberts appears to continue his life successfully and becomes well respected in the town as he seems to hold no grudge for the years he spent behind bars for no reason.
· What does John Roberts do to get his revenge on both his wife and father-in-law and get away with it?
B. Dialogue Misdirection. (None at this stage)
Thriller Map
OPENING: A troubled wife goes missing suddenly during a daytime picnic.
Twist #1:
Direction: Helen Roberts disappears suddenly without a trace.
Twist: No one sees her disappear.
TRUST: Hero trusts wife and father-in-law.
DISTRUST: Father-in-law is quick to blame hero once his daughter disappears mysteriously.
Life Threatening Sequence #1: Helen faces a life threatening situation and as to what made her go missing. No one can remember seeing her go missing from the picnic, least of all her own husband, who worked late at her father’s bank. Helen vanished into thin air.
TRUST: John trusted his wife and father-in-law.
DISTRUST: John no longer trusts his father-in-law and has no idea what happened to his wife.
Mystery Sequence #1: Does Helen suffer from the same mental illness her mother suffers from?
Reveal #1: Helen Roberts disappears without a trace.
Clue #1 (Overt): Is Helen mentally ill (or faking her mental illness?)
Misdirection: Is Helen Roberts mentally ill like her mother, or is she “faking her mental illness?”
Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #1: Father is not searching for his daughter immediately knowing she has done this on two previous occasions. He is more intent on removing the unwanted and unpopular son-in-law, John Roberts from his business forever, whatever it takes.
Reveal #2: Mike Deans is not in a hurry to find his daughter.
Clue #2 (Covert): Why isn’t Mike Deans looking for his daughter?
Misdirection: There are two reasons for Mike Deans wanting to have John Roberts convicted and sent away.
1. He knows about his wife’s mental illness; 2. Mike Deans wants reason for his wife’s mental illness covered up and to never be revealed.
Twist #2:
Direction: Mike Deans is hiding secrets he does not want revealed that could destroy his career and standing in the community.
Twist: Mike Deans is willing to do anything to cover up his secrets whatever it takes.
TRUST: Father-in-law (villain) trusts son-in-law, lets him marry his daughter and gives him a job.
DISTRUST: Villain father-in-law knows of his daughters’ disappearing acts, but lets his son-in-law take the blame for his daughter’s sudden disappearance.
INCITING INCIDENT: Hero is arrested for murder and causing her body to disappear as she is never found.
TRUST: Hero trusts the system as he knows that he did not murder or hurt his wife.
DISTRUST: Hero loses faith in the system once he is found guilty with no evidence and he is sentenced to 20 years for her murder.
Twist #3:
Direction: Mike Deans is quick to conclude that John Roberts, his son-in-law, somehow murdered and hid his daughter’s body, when he knows she has disappeared before.
Twist: Mike Deans is hiding a secret from the authorities and the townspeople.
TRUST: Hero trusts townspeople and jury to find him innocent.
DISTRUST: Hero loses all trust in townspeople and system once he is found guilty and sentenced without evidence.
Life Threatening Sequence #2: Mike Roberts felt guilty that their marriage was not working out after all the effort he had put into that relationship.
Mystery Sequence #2: Father (Mike Deans) is not actively looking for his daughter and prefers everyone believe she is dead?
Reveal #3: Mike Deans knows his daughter is not dead and lets his son-in-law get convicted for her death though no evidence is ever found.
Clue #3 (Covert): Mike Deans already knows that his daughter is not dead because she has disappeared on two previous occasions.
Twist #4:
Direction: Mike Deans suspects his daughter suffers from the same mental illness as his wife and that she has disappeared on two previous occasions and returned.
Twist: Mike Deans allows John Roberts to be blamed for her disappearance this time.
TRUST: The Villain, Mike Deans, is sure that they will find his son-in-law guilty and lock him up, despite knowing that his daughter has disappeared on previous occasions on her own.
DISTRUST: His dislike for his son-in-law makes him want to have him take the blame for her sudden disappearance and to get him out of his life.
Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #2: John Deans is quick to accuse John Roberts of murdering and burying his daughter’s body in the nearby woods near the picnic area. He has a lot of sway with the authorities in the town.
Reveal #4: Mike Deans is hiding family secrets from the police and townspeople about his private life.
Misdirection: Mike Deans does not want his family secrets known to anyone in town, and dislikes his son-in-law, so he is quick to let him take the blame for his daughter’s disappearance.
Twist #5:
Direction: No one listens to John Roberts when he proclaims his innocence and they quickly judge him as guilty.
Twist: John can find no allies to help him in his case and he is immediately judged as guilty.
TRUST: Deep down the Villain, Mike Deans, knows that his daughter is safe and has just disappeared on her own.
DISTRUST: His hatred of his son-in-law, allows him to let his son-in-law take the blame instead of telling the truth about the family secret of mental illness.
TURNING POINT 1: John Roberts is quickly arrested, tried and convicted for the murder of his young new wife.
Twist #6:
Direction: John Roberts is judged quickly for the murder of his new wife, Mike Deans’ daughter, Helen.
Twist: The case against John Roberts is wrapped up very quickly.
TRUST: John trusts the system and the fact that there is no proof he did anything to his wife.
DISTRUST: John quickly realizes he has no allies to help prove his innocence and he is quickly found guilty with the help of his own father-in-law. John is betrayed by his own father-in-law and accused of murder.
Life Threatening Sequence #3: It’s more efficient to have John Roberts removed from his life permanently than for the town to find out that Mike Deans has some dark secrets.
If Mike Deans’ secret is revealed, it can affect both his reputation and his career in the small town.
Reveal #5: Molly Deans is suffering from a mental illness and but John Deans’ previous actions made her mentally ill.
Clue #4 (Overt): How did Mike Deans contribute to his wife’s mental illness?
Twist #7:
Direction: Mike Deans is hiding a secret from everyone that he wants this matter wrapped up quickly and John Roberts out of the way.
Twist: Mike Deans underestimates John Roberts’s resilience in fighting for justice.
TRUST: Mike Deans (Villain) feels secure that his secret will remain secret if his son-in-law is locked away for murder.
DISTRUST: He is not quite sure what he will do once his daughter resurfaces in the future.
Mystery Sequence #3: John Roberts is convicted for murder gets 20 years at a penitentiary.
Reveal #6: John Roberts is shockingly arrested, charged and quickly sentenced to 20 years for a murder without any evidence.
Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #3: Mike Deans plans to keep John Roberts locked up for 20 years to get him out of his life.
Misdirection: Why are Mike Deans’ secrets so severe that he will have an innocent person locked up?
Reveal #7.1: John Roberts knows about Mike Deans family secret through his wife, Helen Roberts, but not everything.
Reveal #7.2: John Deans underestimates John Roberts’s ambition to achieve higher education and become a model prisoner and help other inmates successfully with their Appeals as he eventually obtains all his qualifications as a lawyer.
Direction: Incarceration does not destroy John Roberts.
Twist: He makes good use of his time in prison.
TRUST: John never gives up on his proclaiming his innocence and decides to work within the system to prove his innocence, via appeals.
DISTRUST: John no longer trusts his father-in-law and after a while he no longer trusts his own wife and starts to forget about her.
MIDPOINT: We discover that John Deans’ wife, has been suffering with some form of a mental illness for years, and he has suspected that his own daughter is also suffering with the same mental illness, and she has disappeared before and then returned.
Threatening Sequence #4: Helen is lured away by a strange hitchhiker and seems to not remember her own name.
Helen leaving with a stranger can put her life in danger.
Her disappearance puts John Roberts in jail for murder, and in danger.
Twist #8:
Direction: Helen appears to be suffering from a mental illness or amnesia.
Twist: Is it learned behaviour or is she really mentally ill?
TRUST: Helen takes off with a complete stranger.
DISTRUST: Helen is no longer happy with her new boyfriend and starts the same mental health issues she had with her husband.
Mystery Sequence #4: Helen is locked up in an asylum by her boyfriend but Helen is writing letters everyday in the asylum
Reveal #8: Helen writes letters and addresses envelopes daily.
Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #4: Mike Deans is taking his time in searching for his daughter till he’s retired and not sharing his previous experiences with authorities about his daughter’s previous disappearances.
Reveal #9: Mike Deans is not in any rush to find his daughter, but starts thinking about hiring a private investigator to find her.
Twist #9
Direction: Mike Deans is in no rush to have his beloved daughter found.
Twist: Mike Deans loves his daughter and deep inside knows she just disappeared but is in no hurry to locate her.
Misdirection: Why does Mike Deans finally start to look into locating his missing daughter?
TRUST: Mike Deans is satisfied that his daughter is probably fine and is glad to have his son-in-law locked away for a long time.
DISTRUST: He is more concerned with his position in town, than looking for his missing daughter and having his son-in-law released. He is concerned about what will happen once she does reappears and he is released.
TURNING POINT: Helen is alive but appears to be suffering from amnesia. She gets locked up in a state mental asylum far from home. She writes letters and envelopes every day and only one nurse assistant is interested in what she is doing. They do not know who she is.
Threatening Sequence #5: Mike Deans knows that his daughter will resurface and then there will have to be an explanations and possible consequences to face for having John wrongfully convicted.
Mystery Sequence #5: The asylum is unable to determine Helen’s identity.
Reveal #10: Helen’s identity remains a secret for quite a while.
Misdirection: Why can no one in the asylum discover who Helen Roberts is?
Twist #10:
Direction: Mike Deans’ reaction once his daughter finally resurfaces.
Twist: John Roberts is released and reunited with his wife who has been missing for 8 years.
TRUST: John Roberts’s faith in the law is renewed and further he is successful in suing for wrongful imprisonment.
DISTRUST: He is no longer treated badly by the townspeople, but he has lost all trust in his father-in-law and his wife when she reappears.
Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #5: Mike Deans believes his daughter is suffering from the same mental illness his wife has but has not shared that information with anyone.
Reveal #11: Mike Deans is not certain that John Roberts knows his secret about his wife, Molly Deans, and why she is ill.
CLIMAX: Mike Deans knows that his son-in-law is innocent because Helen has disappeared and reappeared later on previous occasions, but wants to keep the secret of the mental illness in the family quiet for his reputation and career.
Threatening Sequence #5: Mike worked hard to make John give up all his appeals so that he will never be released to return to town.
Mystery Sequence #5: John Roberts becomes a model prisoner, and starts taking college studies to improve his chances for a better job later when he is released.
Reveal #12: John Roberts behaviour as a model prisoner surprises everyone, especially Mike Deans.
Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #5: Mike Deans continues the cover-up of his daughter’s disappearance and lets John Roberts rot in jail.
Reveal #13: Mike Deans underestimates John Roberts’s ambition and ability to succeed in prison not only as a model prisoner, but as a scholar.
Twist #11:
Direction: John Roberts release and successful lawsuit against the state for wrongful imprisonment affects Mike Deans.
Twist: The changes in John Roberts’s financial situation once he receives a huge settlement for wrongful imprisonment.
TRUST: The hero regains his trust in the system and his life improves.
DISTRUST: He has no love for his father-in-law or his wife who has not changed at all. But he endures the situation for a few years.
RESOLUTION: Daughter is released and returns home to her small town and husband.
John Roberts is released immediately from prison.
John Roberts is a now successful lawyer who sues the state successfully for being wrongfully incarcerated and wins a large amount of money to set up his small law practice and buys a beautiful home back in his home town beside the very park where the original picnic and woods are located.
The townspeople now welcome him back and see that they had misjudged him.
John appears to live happily ever after with Helen but there are changes in their marriage arrangement.
Misdirection: John Roberts appears to continue his life successfully and becomes well respected in the town as he seems to hold no grudge for the years he spent behind bars for no reason. It all appears as though, all is forgiven and forgotten to everyone in town. John Roberts is also a pillar of society now and sits on town council meetings.<sub></sub>
John seeks revenge for the years he lost for the false accusations of murder; an action from his wife spurs him on.
Threatening Sequence #6: Mike worked hard to make John give up his appeals and never be released to return to town.
Reveal #14.1: Helen Roberts’s identify finally surfaces and she is sent home.
Reveal #14.2: The truth is finally revealed; John is released after 8 years and successfully sues the state penitentiary for wrongful incarceration.
Reveal #14.3: John Roberts is released and he has to face Mike Deans and the townspeople that had him convicted wrongfully.
Clue #5 (Covert): John’s reaction to being found not guilty, released and receiving a good settlement for wrongful incarceration. He buys the property right beside park that Helen disappeared in.
TRUST: Helen (red-herring) had kept writing letters for some reason.
DISTRUST: Helen is not sure who she can trust in the asylum with her letters.
Mystery Sequence #6: How will John react if or when Helen resurfaces?
Reveal #15.1: John Dean accepts his wife’s strange disappearance and they return to living together as husband and wife.
Reveal #15.2: John Dean’s reaction when his daughter returns and John Roberts is freed.
Reveal #15.3: John Roberts’s decision to take revenge for losing 8 years of his life?
Twist #12:
Direction: John Roberts discovers in an argument that his wife was only “faking her mental illness” to get back at John for his “beastly behaviour” and that she has watched her mother’s behaviour since childhood and simply copied that behaviour.
Twist: John plans for over two years on how he will rid himself of this troublesome wife that took 8 years of his life away and has no remorse whatsoever for her behaviour.
TRUST: At first, John accepts his wife’s “mental illness” as the excuse for her disappearance.
DISTRUST: When she finally reveals that she had only been “faking it” to get away from him and that town, he loses all trust in her and starts planning his revenge.
Villain’s Plan (Intrigue) #6: Mike Deans fear once his daughter returns and she and John are reunited.
Reveal #16.1: Mike Deans wronged John Roberts and never explains or apologizes for misjudging him.
Reveal #16.2: John Deans keeps a close eye on his daughter daily and his son-in-law.
Reveal #16.3: John Deans keeps waiting to see what John Roberts will do about his participation in having him incarcerated wrongfully.
Reveal #16.4: How John Roberts takes his revenge successfully.
TRUST: Mike Deans continues to believe that his daughter has the same illness as his wife, but on occasion wonders about it.
DISTRUST: Mike Deans keeps a close eye on his son-in-law in case he finds out that his daughter has disappeared before and that she may not be suffering from any mental illness.
Twist #13:
Direction: John Roberts successfully rids himself of his lying and cheating wife once and for all without anyone being the wiser.
Twist: Incarceration has taught John patience and he plans his actions over the course of two years, as nothing has changed since his wife returned.
TRUST: John gains everyone’s’ trust after he is released and receives a nice sum of money to set up his own law firm and buy a nice new house next to the park and woods where Helen disappeared.
DISTRUST: He quietly plots his successful revenge towards his cheating and lying wife who cost him 8 years of his life. He is also able to pay back his father-in-law at the same time he takes his revenge.
Twist #14:
Direction: Mike keeps daily tabs on both his daughter and his son-in-law.
Twist: Mike Deans has no way of knowing whether Helen disappears on her own, or not, and they will not charge him with the same crime again.
TRUST: Mike Deans trusts that all is going well now that his daughter has returned and is living in good style with her husband who has been released for being wrongfully incarcerated for 8 years.
DISTRUST: His entire secret never surfaces, but he keeps close tabs on is daughter in case she gets the notion to disappear again.
He’s not sure if he can trust his son-in-law but has no choice at this stage.
Reveal #16: John Roberts takes his successful revenge on his wife and his father-in-law.
Clue #6 (Overt): How does John Roberts exact his revenge on Helen and Mike Deans?
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