So, we want the readers to think that Bob is in love with Sally, or that Bob is a murderer, but there is something that proves that he isn't, and this something is very obvious if you think about it for more than a few minutes. How do you not make it obvious, or hide the fact that it is obvious? Then, how do we reveal it so the readers don't curse at the pure stupidity of the characters, as to why they didn't think of it earlier? Thanks, Sam
If you're in Sally's POV, you simply don't mention anything about Bob not being in love with Sally. It will be something that Sally discovers later. If you're in Bob's POV, then you don't hide his not being in love with her at all. You are with him, the reader is with him, therefore his motives will be known through his actions, if not his thoughts. It sounds to me like you're trying to contrive a plot twist, but contrivance is not normally a good thing to do, it comes off as fakery.
If you don't want the characters to appear stupid, you should find a way to justify them not knowing/realizing. To hide the fact from them too, not just from the readers. You could also make them jump to a conclusion, present information in such a way that there's an "obvious" explanation, and then just ignore any newer facts - people tend to do that, so it's believable, at least for the characters, but some readers might still see through this. Another option is to make things happen too fast, so that they (ideally both the characters and readers) don't have much time to think things through - but that won't work for longer time spans.
