The Challenge of Reveals
Secrets, surprises, and twists are powerful narrative tools. They can conjure questions and mystery in readers’ minds that raise suspense, stakes, and reader investment—and knowing how to use them effectively can create some of the most memorable moments of your story.
Stories with dangling questions and startling reveals keep readers hooked throughout, not knowing what comes next, eagerly turning pages to find out.
But pulling off a successful reveal is a tricky tightrope act between giving readers enough information to feel invested and holding back enough to keep them hooked. It's the striptease of literature: show too much and you lose all the excitement and buildup. Too little and nobody cares.
Balancing these considerations often relies on three key elements: knowing what and how much to keep as a reveal, when to reveal it, and how to unspool the hidden information for maximum suspense and impact.
Authors will learn:
- The difference between good mystery and bad mystery, narratively speaking—how to avoid being coy, cryptic, and losing or annoying your reader.
- How to determine what to conceal and what to reveal, and when, for maximum suspense and impact.
- How to use “benign manipulation” to invisibly set up organic reveals, selectively omitting or occluding certain information, and gently misdirecting readers to lead them to draw the conclusions you want them to draw without their seeing the author’s hand
- How to plant readers’ feet and still create powerful questions in their minds that propel them through the story.
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How to make sure the payoff packs a punch when it's finally revealed.
Who should take this course?
Fiction authors who:
- Authors who want to create a compelling story by understanding when and how to reveal crucial information to readers for maximum impact
- Authors writing fiction with backstory that is gradually revealed throughout the story
- Novelists who want to create strong mystery and suspense in their stories, but aren’t sure how to effectively use reveals, secrets, and twists
- Authors writing fiction based on secrets and what’s withheld from the reader
- Authors who may be intimidated by using reveals and twists who want to understand how to effectively use these devices
Hi, I'm Tiffany Yates Martin, founder of FoxPrint Editorial
In my publishing career working as a book editor on hundreds of manuscripts—for major publishers and New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and USA Today bestselling and award-winning authors as well as newer writers—I have decades of experience in pinpointing what can keep an author's story from being as effective as it can be, and how to help authors make it marketable and competitive.
As an editor as well as a teacher leading workshops and seminars in writing and editing, I've developed clear, useful, hands-on tools for helping authors learn to spot these areas, along with practical techniques for addressing them, and I'm the author of a book based on those techniques, Intuitive Editing: A Creative & Practical Guide to Revising Your Writing, as well as my follow-up book on creating a more rewarding writing career: The Intuitive Author: How to Grow and Sustain a Happier Writing Career
"Absolutely fantastic!"
"This was absolutely fantastic! Lesson to myself: never miss another workshop put on by Tiffany!"
"Fabulous session."
“Fabulous session. Took away so much! Thank you, Tiffany! Extremely valuable."
"Informative and helpful."
“Thank you for this wonderful seminar! Very informative and helpful."
Example Curriculum
FAQs:
When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course--you decide when you start and when you finish.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like--across any and all devices you own.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days and we will give you a full refund.
