One day, I was driving to work, approaching a gas station built of beige cinder block, when I noticed a huge gallon of milk floating over the store. That’s not something you see every day, and I’m afraid I spent more time staring at it than paying attention to my driving. I had to slam on the brakes when my attention suddenly switched to the car in front of me. Avoiding a collision, I switched my attention back to the floating gallon of milk, which is when I realized the gallon of milk adorned the side of a straight truck that was on a street behind the station, but just high enough to create the illusion of the floating milk jug.
This weekend, while driving down the interstate, I saw ahead of me in the distance a huge black rectangle with flashing yellow lights driving down the road. I puzzled over what kind of construction project would need a road sign quite that big until I drew close to the rectangle. That’s when I discovered that instead of a huge road sign, the big black rectangles were monster size tires so big that four of them not only filled but overlapped the trailer of an eighteen wheeler, and the blinking lights were of the pilot car traveling behind it.
In a more serious incident from my teenage years, one fall Saturday afternoon I was standing on our deck in Northern Virginia admiring the gorgeous color in the surrounding trees when I heard an odd sound that reminded me of whale song. Floating across the hills, the sound, which repeated, was both eerie and beautiful. Until something in my mind clicked and, to my horror, I realized what I was hearing was a dog yowling while he was being beaten. I rushed inside and told my mom. Someone in the neighborhood reported the man, and ultimately the situation was resolved. I never heard the sound again, for which I was grateful.
What changed with each situation was my perspective. When my perspective changed, my understanding increased. In a well-crafted mystery, we attempt to do the same thing for our readers—present them with one picture or sequence of events that looks like one thing, only to have that picture change to something else once all the clues have been found and the truth obtained by our intrepid sleuths. The movie The Sixth Sense was like that; I didn’t see the twist until the very end of the movie. Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd also handled the switch well; again, it wasn’t until the very end of the novel that I finally understood the entire picture that had been drawn.
What perspective switches have you used in your own mysteries? What mysteries have you read that do a good job managing a switch of perspective at the end?
Great observations. I have to admit I never did pick up on the situation in the Sixth Sense until the very end--then I had to go back and watch the whole thing again to convince myself of the "truth."
ReplyDeleteI had to do the same thing!
DeleteWhat a great topic, though I'm struggling with the howling dog example. Yesterday during "Fiddler on the Roof" at Music Hall, there was a final scene at a train station, a daughter waiting to leave her home to join her lover. Noises in the background of what I thought was a train arriving. No! It was the start of a thunderstorm outside.
ReplyDeleteThe dog example was hard to live through too. I had never heard a dog being mistreated, ever, which is why it took me so long to realize what I was hearing. And I was young; 14 or 15 years old.
DeleteWonderful topic, Nancy. I don't think I've ever managed to write that total perspective switch. But I think it can be accomplished if you map the killer even before the story begins. If you know the killer's story, switching perspective becomes easier because his story is the "truth."
ReplyDeleteEven novels without a complete 180 perspective switch still use the technique though; the "red herrings" throughout the book encourage the reader to look at things one way when in fact the denouement will be different.
DeleteExcellent post, Nancy.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteNancy,
ReplyDeleteI love the perspective of your post. So often in life we see something one way and others see it completely different. And so useful when it comes to writing mysteries.
When you can translate it to the page, like you and the other writers here can do, it is more than useful; for the reader, it is magical.
DeleteAn example of perspective shift is with so-called optical illusions in which we first see a white vase in a black background. It then becomes two people in profile looking at each other across white space.
ReplyDeleteYes, I always find those so interesting. The young lady/old lady one is another one like that.
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