Can anyone help me to understand what my English teacher means in this advice he wrote at the end of my essay?
I wrote a creative writing short story about a woman at her daughters funeral and she is looking around trying to think of who she thinks her daughter’s killer was. But at the end there’s a twist and the murderer was the mother all along and was only thinking about everyone else’s motive to see who she could pin the blame on.
My English teacher said it was really good with a good twist at the end but what I don’t understand about his advice was he also said “Could you use a prop of reflection/mirror to show that the narrator is the murderer/bully?”. We have to redraft our essays but I don’t understand this critique. Can anyone help? Thanks
Anonymous2018-03-24T01:40:02Z
Favorite Answer
Your teacher is suggesting that you instill some connection between the big reveal and what leads up to it into your story. Anyone can write a story about a murder and have the murderer turn out to be some random character, but a good writer will have the ending connect to the narrative. It won't be a twist just for the sake of being a surprise that the reader wouldn't see coming. Once the reader learns the murderer's identity, he or she ought to be thinking "Aah, I should have known. If I'd looked at the clues I would have guessed long ago." That's why writing a good murder mystery story is much more difficult than people assume it to be. Without clues that foreshadow the reveal all you're really doing is attempting to throw everyone for a loop. And if you do that, you'll need to explain the motive cold, out of nowhere, and seeing as it's the end of the story, readers won't be keen to slog through that. A sloppy writer just throws anything onto the page. A good writer crafts a tale.
I am thinking that he just means to have more mirrors and that as descriptive scenery for it all. a sort of tip off to the reader for it. If you think that it stands well all on its own, then leave it.
Writers often use imagery to help tell their stories. The image of a mirror would raise ideas about the woman seeing herself, or catching a glimpse of someone else in the mirror. Sometimes mirrors reflect an image that isn't clear, either because the glass is foggy, dusty, etc., or because it's not straight. Any of these things can cause an image to be distorted. You could think about how she sees herself and how the mirror image can express that in the story. Or how she sees the others. You could also play with less realistic ideas, like her catching a glimpse of the mirror and thinking it's something else, like a ghoul or something, and then looking again and seeing that it's herself. What does this tell her (and the reader) about herself? These metaphors are fun to play with and can say a lot about character without the writer having to explain it all. "Show, don't tell", as they say.
I'd advise you to ask your teacher - but I'd take it to mean that something earlier in the story should give a tiny hint - a suggestion - of her guilt. It would need to be very subtle but it could be extremely effective.