Protagonists can’t start with a complete understanding of themselves or their world, or there would be no story to tell. Most novels include a reveal, where the main character (and the reader) make a discovery. The desire to learn the hidden mystery is often what keeps readers turning pages.

I’ve been thinking about the role the reveal plays in the novel. When discovering the secret the protagonist’s primary goal, he or she is robbed of agency. Another character spills the facts, the protagonist becomes a passive bystander, and the reader is disappointed. However, when discovering the truth is only one step toward achieving the goal, the protagonist can remain in charge of the story.

In plot-related reveals, the protagonist usually gathers bits of data from numerous sources before he or she uses the information to succeed at the bold and exciting plot climax. In character-driven novels, the protagonist often learns a secret on his or her path to self-discovery. The secret is not the end game; it is a single component of the change the character will achieve.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by J.K. Rowling has a great plot-related reveal. Harry, Ron and Hermione have been searching for horcruxes for hundreds of pages. Seven horcruxes must be destroyed before Lord Voldemort can be killed. They learn that Ravenclaw’s most prized possession was the lost diadem and suspect the diadem is one of the horcruxes. Harry questions the Ravenclaw ghost, The Gray Lady, and learns that she once told Voldemort where the diadem was hidden. She doesn’t tell Harry where it is now. Harry pieces together information from the other six books to deduce the location. Before he can recover it, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle intervene. Danger and brave deeds ensue. Only Harry is capable of saving the day – and he does. The Gray Lady reveals only a fraction of the necessary information, so Harry can maintain agency.

The reveal in THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL by Stacey Lee is part of the character arc. Jo Kuan lives a clandestine life. Using the pen name Dear Miss Sweetie, she writes an advice column for genteel Southern women. By challenging societal norms, the column becomes wildly popular. Everyone wants to learn the identity of Dear Miss Sweetie. When Jo uncovers a secret from her own family, she gains the self-confidence to reveal her identity to the man she loves. Jo discovers the family secret through handwriting analysis. Solving the mystery is her own doing, and she doesn’t relinquish an iota of agency to another character.

The protagonist should remain the star of his or her own story. A well-handled reveal doesn’t steal the spotlight.

In Kate DiCamillo’s Louisiana’s Way Home, Louisiana, has a way of characterizing people in a few sentences.

About her grandmother, Louisiana says, “If you have to choose between smiling and not smiling, choose smiling. It fools people for a short time. It gives you an advantage. According to Granny.” At that point, I started to wonder about Granny.

Louisiana says this about herself. “There are rescuers in this world and there are the rescued. I have always fallen into the second category.” DiCamillo provides lovely foreshadowing for a situation as yet unknown to Louisiana herself.

When Louisiana meets a boy named Burke, she says, “He was the kind of person who, if you asked him for one of something, gave you two instead.” I immediately liked Burke.

These pithy characterizations won’t work in every novel or with every character voice, but they are a useful tool for a writer. To find out how well you know your characters, try describing their essence in a sentence or two.

For example, the protagonist of one of my works in progress might say, “Love is impossible when you’re not allowed to tell the truth.” The protagonist of another work in progress might say, “A well-timed exit is eighty percent of the victory.”

If you feel so inclined, please use the comments to tell me what your characters have to say.

Tells, unconscious movements that telegraph a person’s emotions, are beloved by novelists and gamblers. A character may rub his neck when he lies. Another character might pick at her split ends when she’s bored. Eyebrows frequently rise. Jaws are forever dropping. But sometimes a character has such a unique and memorable tell that it jumps off the page.

In The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, by Mackenzi Lee, the protagonist, Felicity Montague, has arrived unannounced at the wedding of her estranged childhood friend, Johanna. The bride-to-be has been chatting happily about her fiancé, a man Felicity has long idolized. Then Lee adds this description: “But then Johana pulls in her cheeks too hard and bites down upon them so that she looks like a fish. It’s a nervous habit from childhood, one she used to do so often in the presence of her father that the insides of her cheeks would bleed” (page 141). The simple gesture shows us that Johanna’s relationship with her father was fraught and her upcoming nuptials are not the happy event everyone is pretending. We also learn that Felicity still empathizes with her friend. In forty-eight words, we get character elucidation, backstory and foreshadowing. Wow.

    Katherine Tegen Books, 2018

The appropriate pacing for a novel depends on the audience, genre and plot type. A literary novel aimed at educated women will likely be slower paced than a midgrade novel targeted at elementary school boys. If the pacing is too slow for its audience, the reader may wonder if anything will ever happen. If the pacing is too fast, the reader may fail to connect with the protagonist or feel exhausted by the relentless tempo.

Most authors vary the pacing because the reader relishes both excitement and contemplative moments. I’ve been thinking about how writers speed things up and then slow them down. The pacing often decreases with backstory, internal monologue and description. Pacing tends to increase with action. Dialogue can increase or decrease the pace, depending how it’s used.

In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the pacing ebbs and flows. In one fast-paced sequence, Harry, Ron and Hermione break into the wizarding bank then escape from authorities on the back of a dragon. The action continues when they transport themselves into a passel of enemies and are rescued by a mysterious character. Before the final extended battle begins, Rowling inserts a slower interlude in which Harry (and the reader) learn essential backstory.

Spy School by Stuart Gibbs is an example of a fast-paced novel. Gibbs almost always makes more than one thing happen at once. For example, Ben Ripley arrives for his first day at spy school in the midst of an attack. His campus tour occurs during a barrage of gunfire. That scene description won’t be skipped by young boys reading this book.

What books do you think did a great job with pacing?

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

By Mackenzi Lee

Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2017

Mackenzi Lee creates a wonderful example of the domino effect in plotting in this adventure story. The protagonist, Henry “Monty” Montague, is a likable rogue who is taking a tour of Europe before settling down to run the family estate. In a somewhat immature act of revenge, Monty steals an ornamental box from a duke.

This theft sets every subsequent scene in motion. Their company is beset by highway men who are trying to recover the box but end up separating the teens from their chaperone and their finances. They travel to learn the code that opens the box. Once they learn what’s inside, they travel again to utilize that information. Without giving away any more of the story, I’ll simply say no domino is out of place.

Every scene in a novel should cause at least one other scene. I check the causality of my manuscripts by listing the scenes and drawing arrows to show which events caused other things to happen. Every scene should trigger another scene or be the result of a previous occurrence.